East High teachers finding success in students' use of new Chromebooks

YOUNGSTOWN

East High School English teacher Jennifer Coles-Shesko is embracing the school’s new Chromebooks to their fullest by using them to prepare her students for their upcoming American Institutes for Research tests.

In March, East High rolled out the district’s 1:1 initiative, providing about 600 East students with $200 Chromebooks to use during school.

Co-teacher Dennis Miller joked about students’ technology savvy by saying: “Sometimes they’re teaching us.”

Coles-Shesko said it’s difficult to “fight” technology coming into the classroom, so she embraces it.

It is obvious the students embrace it, too, working silently on their assignments in Coles-Shesko’s fifth-period class.

This week, her students were given a novel to read and instructed to make connections to the text by familiarizing themselves with the 1960s, and to draft an essay of their findings.

“It’s good, hands-on practice for the tests because the AIR tests are online,” Coles-Shesko said. “Instead of direct instructing, we are facilitating their classwork. Doing this in the classroom keeps them engaged and helps them get connected to the subject matter and the upcoming test.”

Read more about the methods in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.