MARC JACOBS
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson USD 308 officials say efforts to reduce students' reliance on screens are already producing noticeable changes in classrooms, hallways and lunchrooms.
Dr. Krystal Young said during an interview on the BW Morning Show that district officials have been conducting building and classroom walkthroughs since the beginning of the school year and are seeing more interaction among students.
“We've definitely seen an increase of student engagement, conversation,” Young said. “We talk a lot about what the lunchrooms sound like compared to what the lunchrooms were sounding like.”
Young said students are interacting more in hallways and that teachers are also seeing an impact in classrooms through increased discussion and engagement.
“We are seeing just a different level of connection and communication happening between students as well as between students and adults,” Young said.
The district is also examining when computers are necessary for instruction and when students could benefit from completing work without them.
Young said USD 308 is working with middle school teachers and has monitoring tools designed to help make sure students remain on task while using computers.
“We are starting to have those conversations about what task can be done with a computer and what could be done without,” Young said.
She noted that today's students have a different relationship with technology than previous generations because they regularly use it outside school. That means schools can focus on teaching students how to use technology as an educational tool rather than simply providing access to it.
District recognizes two young teachers
USD 308 is also recognizing two educators for successful starts to their teaching careers.
Young announced that Lauren Clements, a kindergarten teacher at Wiley, and Carter Downing, a seventh-grade science teacher at HMS-7, have been selected as USD 308's nominees for the Kansas Horizon Award.
The statewide program recognizes second-year educators who demonstrated excellence during their first year in the classroom.
“We were able to surprise two of our novice teachers and award them with the USD 308 nominee for the Kansas Horizon Award,” Young said.
Superintendent Dr. Dawn Johnson, who is completing her 34th and final year in education, said recognizing beginning teachers brought back memories of the start of her own career.
Johnson recalled receiving eight textbooks as she prepared to teach fifth- through eighth-grade reading and English.
“I got those books over the summer and sat in my living room with eight textbooks and cried for hours because I had no idea where to start,” Johnson said.
Now nearing the end of more than three decades in education, Johnson said she has no regrets about choosing the profession.
“It's been a marvelous career,” Johnson said. “I wouldn't change anything.”