By: Mitchell Moore @MitchMooreFOE

This past school year Boone Community School District passed an initiative called 1:1. Each student in grades 5-12 was given a chromebook to use in all their classes for research, writing, and online books. The question is, are they used effectively?
In past years at Boone High School computers and electronic devices were provided when needed. Now, they cause trust issues and distractions within the classroom. I feel chromebooks shouldn’t be the focus of the classroom. In math classes, teachers use the chromebooks to assign worksheets on the internet. Completing these would take ten minutes on paper, but with chromebooks it takes upwards of 30 minutes. Yes, they are very useful, yet they don’t need to be included in every task in classes.
When chromebooks are not needed for classroom use, they should be kept out of students reach, to prevent distraction. Through my observation, over half of my spanish class was misusing their chromebooks during class.
When used right, these are a great tool and bring learning and teaching to another level. Teachers often ask students to pay attention to them and not their chromebook, which creates frustration between teachers and students.
The chromebooks combined with the newly renovated high school are a nice one, two punch and add a lot of excitement within the students and staff. The easy solution is to have students keep them in their backpacks or carrying case until teachers are done and are ready for students to work.
In past years at Boone High School computers and electronic devices were provided when needed. Now, they cause trust issues and distractions within the classroom. I feel chromebooks shouldn’t be the focus of the classroom. In math classes, teachers use the chromebooks to assign worksheets on the internet. Completing these would take ten minutes on paper, but with chromebooks it takes upwards of 30 minutes. Yes, they are very useful, yet they don’t need to be included in every task in classes.
When chromebooks are not needed for classroom use, they should be kept out of students reach, to prevent distraction. Through my observation, over half of my spanish class was misusing their chromebooks during class.
When used right, these are a great tool and bring learning and teaching to another level. Teachers often ask students to pay attention to them and not their chromebook, which creates frustration between teachers and students.
The chromebooks combined with the newly renovated high school are a nice one, two punch and add a lot of excitement within the students and staff. The easy solution is to have students keep them in their backpacks or carrying case until teachers are done and are ready for students to work.