Recognizing Connections - Human and Technical - at Coeburn Primary Schools

Coeburn Primary School Instructional Technology Coach Kevin Marcus and Principal Carmon Arquette in a 2nd grade classroom.

Coeburn Primary School’s teachers and staff are getting another round of recognition in 2021 for humanizing technology for students and their families.

Coeburn Primary Principal Carmon Arquette and school Instructional Technology Coach Kevin Marcus had found a year ago that the school had earned recognition as a SMART Technologies Exemplary School for two decades of integrating classroom technology into how it taught students.

We recently hosted an online showcase of four Exemplary Schools, including Coeburn Primary, to show how those schools are not just connecting students electronically but maintaining human contact among students, families and the school. Building “connections that matter”.

“Connections That Matter” also highlighted how Coeburn Primary and other schools are using that contact to help deal with students’ mental health during pandemic-enforced isolation from their classmates.

While the Exemplary School recognition came in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marcus said the designation came from 20 years of preparation. The school in 2001 introduced its first “SMART board” — a computerized display that allowed teachers to use video, audio and software instead of chalk to involve students in lecture plans. The SMART boards have evolved to where an entire class can share their work and participate across the SMART board, he added.

Keep reading Coeburn Primary School’s story on TimesNews: