Innovation comes to Breathitt County
Jason Hall’s passion for learning and desire to become a teacher started an early age. Jason, a fourth-grade instructor at Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) Elementary in the Breathitt County School District recalls wanting to become a teacher while in the sixth grade based on his love for his teachers.
Jason has taken that passion for learning to explore and implement innovations in his classrooms. Earning an “Innovation Grant” award from the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC), Jason used the funding to purchase a 3D printer for his classroom and is working with his students to explore uses of the exciting tool. Jason, in his first year in Breathitt, got the idea from when he worked in the Owsley School District.
Jason says, “While in Owsley I was chosen to be one of two teachers from our district to go to Pennsylvania to tour some innovative schools a few years ago. It was amazing! I saw students using computer programs to create 3D models that they printed. I saw students demonstrate how to program robots that they assembled and at least one robot that some high schoolers constructed from parts they machined themselves. I saw students work with circuitry to do amazing things. I saw students set up cameras and do interviews which they edited in iMovie. I saw all this technology being utilized and I wanted to provide technology like that for my students.”
Pointing out that LBJ is the largest elementary school in the district Jason explains “I didn’t know of anyone else in the building who had one, so I decided I would write a grant for one. I watched a lot of YouTube videos about 3D printers and I read a lot of articles. The research process was not work for me, it was more like a hobby. I got excited about the idea of having one and what we could do with it. I enjoyed watching how others used 3D printers in videos and by the time our Flashforge Finder 3D printer arrived I already know how to unpack it, level the bed, insert the filament and make the first test print. I was more excited than the students!”
By getting the printer for a great price that allowed Jason to buy a lot of filament. “We print objects all the time. While my intent was for my students to design their own models I have found that my fourth graders and I are not to that point yet. But there are many worthwhile free 3D prints that we have found on websites such as thingiverse.com. We have printed multiplication manipulatives that are used every day by some. We have printed objects just to see what is possible and we have printed some things just because a child showed the most growth on a MAP assessment and it was her reward to pick something she wanted. In the coming weeks, we are going to create videos where students review 3D prints we have made from models found online and discuss how useful the print was for helping someone learn math facts or solve some other type problem. We will be sharing those videos on our class YouTube account and on the Holler.”
As part of this project funded through the KVEC “Race to the Top” federal funding by the U.S. Department of Education, Jason was one of over 100 instructors who presented at the Forging Innovation in Rural Education FIRESummit, a multi-district K-12 educational professional learning event October 25 in Pikeville, KY. More than 17,000 viewers, from 15 countries and 42 states, tuned in to the live stream provided by KVEC’s digital platform the Holler to watch Jason’s and the other presentations.
While exploring his desire to become a teacher, Jason did go through a phase where he wanted to be a journalist and then I wanted to be a lawyer. “When I did not follow either of those career paths, one of my friend’s dad told me I should try substitute teaching until I decided what I wanted to do. My first subbing experience was working in a kindergarten classroom for a week and I’ll never forget this little girl hugging me during that week and saying, “I finally have me a daddy!” I absolutely loved substitute teaching. I knew teaching was what I wanted to do and this makes my 19th year in the profession.”
Jason adds his appreciation for the opportunity that Appalachian Renaissance Initiative grants provide teachers. While at Owsley County Elementary he received ARI grants for a Swivl robot, EV3 Lego robots, and a lot of video equipment because he wanted his students who lived in perhaps the poorest school district in Kentucky to have the same kinds of experiences as students in multimillion-dollar districts in Pennsylvania. He teaches 22 fourth grade students in a self-contained classroom at LBJ.
Whenever I go to another school, see what someone is doing in their classroom on Youtube, read about what others teachers are doing on Twitter I find myself wanting what they have. I keep those ideas in the back of my mind and when a grant opportunity comes around I’m ready. If an idea slips away over the course of time, then I figure I wasn’t all that excited about it anyway. I pick ideas that I’m curious about, will enhance my students’ learning, put them on even footing with students anywhere in the country, and will make them want to be in my classroom. I feel that our 3D printer meets that criteria.
Jason and fellow teachers shared the innovations planned for their students using the “Innovation Grants” awarded through the ARI and sought feedback from their colleagues at the FIRE Summit. Demonstrations included drone design and build, robotics, aviation, telemedicine, advanced manufacturing, student publishing, and much more.
With some of the region’s most innovative leaders and learners, presenters showed off cutting-edge strategies and technologies that will be used in the classroom over this school year and many years to come. Presenters will return in April 2018 to report on the progress of their grants and share stories from the classroom and their schools.
Jason’s and the other presentations can be found on the www.theholler.org.
