ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 22, 1996 TAG: 9612230026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RINER
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
A THREE-YEAR PROJECT puts computers in homes, and the children work on one extensively at school.
Matt Gardner's family lives a couple of miles from Riner Elementary, down a dirt road that passes his grandfather's farmland.
Squeezed into what had been the breakfast nook of their small blue-gray trailer, sits what is now the focal point of the family's time.
They had to move the kitchen table to make room for it, and even went to Kmart to buy a desk to put it on.
When it came Nov.12, everyone acted agitated, nervous by the change. But it soon drew them in - away from the television and toward each other.
All this, from one computer.
Since Matt began the fifth grade, things have changed at school, too. He said he pays better attention in class. Now, he loves when it's his turn to read a story aloud. He rushes back to class after lunch, and stays after school once a week.
All this, from one classroom full of computers.
Matt is one of 24 fifth-graders chosen by lottery for an experiment that could affect how schools across the country use technology. The $700,000, three-year project already has changed this rural corner of Montgomery County.
"Every time I go to church, it's like, 'Oh, congratulations, congratulations. How's it going?''' said Matt's classmate Britney Green.
The small school lies on the outskirts of Christiansburg, where sprawling farmland stretches out to Floyd County. There are a few developing neighborhoods, and some professionals have moved in to enjoy a country lifestyle and a short commute to Virginia Tech or other jobs.
But for the most part, this is still an area where you catch the latest gossip at the Riner Food Center next to the school.
This is the area where Montgomery County instructional coordinator Melissa Matusevich and Virginia Tech Professor Roger Ehrich decided to put computers to the ultimate test. They obtained a federal grant to equip not only a classroom with Macintosh computers, but also every student's home with one.
For the next three years, one class in the fifth grade will use computers on a daily basis. The students' families will receive home computers, too, which they can keep if they complete the project.
Matt's mom, Darlene Fitting, said she wasn't sure if she wanted to get involved, thinking that her son would lose interest after a week.
"This is part of our life for three years - and that's a long time," she said. "But then I thought, 'If I can get this in our home, and we'll get to keep it if we stay - I can't afford to do that myself.'''
Fitting had never touched a computer before - "I'm afraid I'm going to break it." She's slowly learning the basics with the weekly tutoring sessions for parents conducted in Matt's classroom.
Last week, Fitting received her first e-mail from another mother in the program - and successfully answered it.
Changes are just as obvious in Matt's classroom. Where small, simple desks once stood, long gray desks now hold one computer and two keyboards. Students store their books neatly underneath, in white plastic crates. Matt's teacher, Susan Hood, uses the chalkboard to write World Wide Web addresses.
The library is developing a CD-ROM library for kids and parents. When they wrote out their Christmas wish list, about half the class asked for games and other CD-ROM materials.
Since the computers were set up in October, there have been a few glitches: The tables arrived late, the e-mail system had bugs.
But Matusevich, who teaches in the class at least once a week, said she already has seen differences in learning.
While observing a recent lesson, Matusevich said she noticed that every student stayed interested. "If you had told me a few years ago that 24 fifth-graders would all be engaged like that, I probably wouldn't have believed it," she said.
Hood, who has taught for 20 years, said she's trying to be less structured as she tries to tie computers in with lessons.
The key, said fellow teacher Carol Wellington, is to give the children as much independence as possible with their learning.
Wellington comes in twice a week to help teach language arts. On a recent Thursday, as part of a unit on fairy tales, she told the class to search for them on the Internet. They found a page with hundreds of tales from around the world. The kids were told to find one that interested them, read it, and compare it in pictures or words with the other stories they'd read.
"Kids love to have control over their learning," she said. "That's what is so great about these computers, is the choice element."
Being able to find and repeat the information is just the first step, Matusevich said. Next comes understanding it.
"With the Internet," she said, "these kids will be forced to be critical of what they find."
For example, each morning the students must find a news story, then explain it to Hood. She often quizzes them on how carefully they've read the story, and reminds them not to believe everything they read - especially on the Internet.
Being careful is something the parents are warned about often.
"We've talked to kids about ethics, but these kids are learning fast. They know how to get around things," Amy Ramsey warned in a recent parent class. Along with Virginia Tech doctoral student Ray Reaux, Ramsey visits homes, trains the parents and helps the students with the machines.
She encourages parents to sit with their children as they surf the Net, even though the computers have a device called Cyberpatrol to stop kids from finding things they shouldn't.
But that doesn't stop everything.
Matt's 15-year-old sister, Terri, typed the words "cute boys" and instead found naked men.
"I just went like this," she said, covering her eyes, "and said, 'Mom, I think you should see this.'''
Fitting said she doesn't worry too much about what her children might find on the Internet. "We have a pretty open relationship - I think they'd tell me."
Matt has first dibs on the home computer. After he finishes his homework, he spends much of his evening looking for new sites. His favorite sites include the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders page and the page of MTV's pubescent cartoon characters Beavis and Butt-head.
He also checks out the White House home page, and frequents the cyber version of the Declaration of Independence - "just for fun."
Hood said she plans to e-mail assignments to the class over the holiday, which is fine with Matt. "I'll do anything, as long as it's on the computer."
His sister said the whole family is spending more time around the computer, often together.
"We talk more now because most of the time we're all together working on finding something, or we'll call everyone in once someone's found it," she said.
Terri, who loves to write, said she hopes the computer will help her get into college. Fitting, who works in a convenience store with her husband, Kent, wonders about the possibility of getting a job with computers. She thinks about taking some computer classes, too. But mostly she hopes the computer experience will help her son Matt prepare for his future.
"Hopefully, [Matt's] grades will improve. That's what we're hoping, that the computer will help," she said.
As far as Principal Keith Rowland is concerned, these computers will do more than help with homework. He thinks it will help level the playing field for his pupils.
"Kids in a rural community are equally as smart as urban kids. It's just that they don't have the experiences urban kids do," he said. "Now, they have the experience."
LENGTH: Long : 146 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. 1. Riner Elementary fifth-grader Mattby CNBGardner watches his sister, Terri, download a Looney Tunes sound
clip from a Web site. Their parents got a second phone line after a
week of having the computer at home. Matt stays in touch with his
classmates by e-mail after school, discussing school work or just to
say hello. 2. Matt Gardner's fifth-grade class at Riner Elementary
reads "The Princess and the Golden Shoes," a Scottish tale, from a
World Wide Web site that has fairy tales from around the world.
Matt's teacher, Susan Hood, plans to e-mail homework assignments to
the students over the Christmas break. color.