Brewer first-grade class demonstrates e-portfolios

BREWER – The local school department in recent years has been taking steps into the digital age, which some educators say is revolutionizing the way teachers teach and students learn. In Brewer, first-graders are among those leading the way.

During this week’s school committee meeting, four pupils from Laurie Richards’ first-grade class at Pendleton Street School showed off the electronic portfolios they created during this school year, which draws to a close at the end of this week.

Created on laptop computers and stored on computer disks, the electronic portfolios include writing samples showing the progress each pupil has made since school began last fall; some of the pictures drawn and colored; the images of the covers of some of the youngsters’ favorite storybooks; and samples of other academic highlights from their first-grade experiences.

As school committee members and other adults gathered around a table set up at one end of the school’s cafeteria, first-graders Matthew Colley, Reggie Gagne, Cassie Lewis and Whitney Seymour calmly and efficiently led them on an interactive trip through a school year’s worth of lessons.

The project was one of the numerous benefits the Brewer School Department has received through its participation in the Penobscot River Educational Partnership: Professional Development Network, or PREP:PDN for short. PREP:PDN is an educational partnership involving the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development and seven area public school systems. It aims to enhance the learning of kindergarten through grade 12 students by improving teaching and learning experiences.

According to Superintendent Allan Snell, Richards wrote a grant proposal to the PREP-Bank that enabled her to purchase 10 laptop computers for her pupils to use. The bank provides funding for such purchases as software, laptop computers, digital video cameras and other technology so participating teachers don’t have to compete for resources within their own schools. The public school teachers work with UM faculty to use technology in ways that are meaningful and enriching for students.

“It’s amazing what’s going on and it’s being done in almost every grade level,” Snell said of the use of technology. He said Richards’ pupils each would receive a computer disk on which a copy of their portfolio has been stored.

Also during the meeting, the committee accepted resignations from H. Robert Harnum, part-time high school French teacher; Nancy MacLean, middle school guidance counselor; junior class advisers Rebecca Bubar and Stacy Jardine-LaBree; Randall Hutchins, assistant freshmen football coach; and Traci Jackson, educational technician.