WIRT STUDENTS GET ONE-ON-ONE WITH COMPUTERS

(12/27/2010)

English teacher April Petrovsky leads a computer-based
lesson during her class at Wirt County High School.

Photo by Kenny Kemp

By Davin White
wvgazette.com

ELIZABETH, W.Va. - An overhead projector sits high atop a metal cabinet in the corner of April Petrovsky's English classroom. She hasn't used it at all this year.

Petrovsky used to teach her students by writing with markers on transparent plastic sheets, then projecting the image to the front of the room. Her students copied their daily lessons down in notebooks or three-ring binders.

No more. "It's come a long way since paper and pencil," Petrovsky said, "and I don't want to go back."

Students and staff in West Virginia's least-populated county are taking high-tech learning to a new level, as each student at Wirt County High School has access to their own netbook or laptop computer. This "one-on-one" program is unique in West Virginia, where state officials want to limit future textbook adoptions and move toward computer-based learning.

Continued at wvgazette.com