The administration at Trottier Middle School anticipates that it will get some new and significant technology in the next six months. According to Mrs. Scordato, our technology specialist, Trottier was awarded five hundred dollars from the Southborough Ed Foundation to buy ThinkBoards and ThinkBoard Xs. The school can now buy new technology for the teachers and students.

One new piece of technology that will be coming to the school is the ThinkBoard and the ThinkBoard X. This technology allows teachers to write information on a special whiteboard or notepad and then upload it directly to Google Drive or e-mail by simply scanning a barcode. Currently, some teachers teach many different classes and grades and need the whiteboard for their next class. They would have to erase the board and possibly not remember what they wrote. If they had the ThinkBoard X, they could simply take a picture of the content written on the board and upload it to CANVAS.  The difference between the ThinkBoards and the ThinkBoard Xs is that the ThinkBoards are in a notebook and the ThinkBoard Xs is a whiteboard that is mobile.

Another new product that may be used by the school is Mindwise, which allows students to create mind maps. Mind maps are similar to graphic organizers and will allow students to brainstorm ideas online.  The program will then turn the information into an outline for an essay, and it will give the students the structure they need. Sometimes students forget what they need to have in their essay, so this new technology will give them a template with the ideas to include in a piece of writing.

The last technology that may be coming to the school is an online escape room or Breakout Edu. This technology will challenge both the students and teachers. Both students and teachers can make an escape room with Breakout Edu, but there are some that are already made. If teachers don’t have the time or are first-time escape room users, there is a library of escape rooms to choose from.  

Escape rooms are very engaging, and they make students think.   According to Colby, a student at Trottier, they are very educational and you learn a lot from them. They are fun, and while sometimes they make you frustrated, they are so engaging the time blows away.

These new technologies will help students keep organized, challenged, and engaged.  They will also help teachers who teach more than one class keep a record of students’ thinking. Hopefully, by next fall, there will be thirty ThinkBoards and ten ThinkBoard Xs here at Trottier and other technology to enhance learning in the school.