High-tech learning

Odessan James Johnston puts his 22 students first.

When it comes to his sixth-grade Cameron Magnet Elementary class, he proves it. The teacher is willing to go without a car to make their education better.

Johnston said he wanted his students to enjoy class in an exciting environment.

“I want it to be something comfortable for them,” Johnston, who’s taught at Cameron for three years, said.

The 27-year-old teacher, who rotates his lectures each week from English to Spanish, said he completed “an extreme classroom makeover” this school year with about $30,000 — his own money from his teacher’s salary and selling his 2006 Lincoln Mark LT pickup.

He bought two 60-inch plasma TVs, as well as an additional 42-inch plasma screen secondhand online. But he’s quick to note, not everything in his class was bought this year.

Johnston’s classroom is filled with other modern equipment like an HD video camera and a large diamond plate refrigerator and cabinets. The room also has a lime green couch with blue square pillows and a teacher’s desk made to look like a workbench.

By having these things in their classroom, Johnston’s students stay engaged and remain equipped with tools to help them succeed. Plus, to reach the students and their interests, Johnston said he bought the SMARTboards.

“I didn’t just buy it to make it flashy and cool,” he said. “They’re from the digital age, that’s how it goes.”

He uses the TVs, or SMARTboards, to show students how to work out math problems or write sentences and when he’s done working out a problem he prints it from the screen so the kids can take the example home with them.

During a recent math lesson, Johnston used the TV and both of his two pull-down projector screens for students to watch and read from while performing their “Fraction Shuffle” dance. Later, students learned fractions and ratios on the SMARTboards.

Yocelin Rodriguez watched the projector screen as Johnston went over 1-to-1 ratios.

The 11-year-old said the classroom’s technological gadgets have helped her grades because she’s able to actually see the problems being worked out on a screen. This method allows her to understand her homework better, she said.

“Then I would know how to do it at my house,” she said.

Oscar De Robles, 11, said he had Johnston for fourth grade, and his class at that time had some neat things like an electronic scoreboard and a large rectangular stoplight.

But, his sixth-grade class can only be described as “cool,” Oscar said. The technology in the classroom has helped him improve his grades.

“I went from 70 up, and now I haven’t gone below 70,” he said. “I’ve been keeping it up.”

Oscar, who manages the class aquarium on one of the SMARTboards, said other classrooms at the school don’t have the same type of equipment — though Johnston shares his technology with other teachers when he can. Oscar said he’s fortunate to have a teacher like Johnston.

“You go over to another class, you don’t see all this stuff,” Oscar said.

Johnston said he hopes to open a private school in a few years to offer classes much like his current class-room.

But for now, he hopes his students know they should follow their dreams and believe in their abilities.

“I just want them to learn school can be a fun and exciting thing,” Johnston said.