Technology a tool for this Howard teacher.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

For many teachers of Carol Greig Pitetti's generation, the technological transformation of the 21st century classroom has been more a source of irritation than inspiration.

They may have mastered e-mail, student data systems and Internet research, but the notion of truly integrating laptop computers, SMART boards and other gadgetry into lesson plans is intimidating at best.

Not so for Greig Pitetti, a 56-year-old kindergarten teacher at Eugene's Howard Elementary School.

A technology aficionado since the infancy of the personal computer in the early 1980s, Greig Pitetti wonders why it's taken everyone so long to get on board.

"I was always the kid who was fascinated by things that moved," Greig Pitetti said last week after leading her charges through a lesson that involved building virtual ice cream sundaes on her SMART board and figuring out how much they cost. "I took apart a radio and then I took apart a watch and I put them back together and they both worked. I had extra parts, but they worked."

This weekend, Greig Pitetti will fly to Atlanta to pick up a national award for her success at engaging students through technology.

Given by the International Society for Technology in Education, the Kay L. Bitter Vision Award for Excellence in Technology-Based PK-2 Education recognizes teachers who demonstrate vision and creativity in a classroom project or program that effectively incorporates technology.

Greig Pitetti's claim to fame is Reading Buddies, an at-home intervention program for struggling readers she developed with grant funds in 2006.

The lessons, recorded by Greig Pitetti via podcast, use Apple iShuffles, headsets, storybooks, songs and laminated paper prompts specific to certain reading skills. The program already earned her a Pioneer award from the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, and she's spoken at several regional and national conferences.

Students take home Reading Buddies kits four nights a week, repeating the same lesson, each of which centers on a particular letter. Parents with limited English skills have used them, too, Greig Pitetti said, to help with their own mastery of the language.

"It was meant to be an extension - another half-hour of basically one-on-one time with each child," she said.

Approximately 30 students in Howard's two kindergarten classes have used Reading Buddies, with all but one student reaching or exceeding grade-level benchmarks after completion. While Greig Pitetti emphasized that many other factors play into achievement gains, she's confident Reading Buddies has made a difference.

So is Alisa Hemple, whose 6-year-old son, Ethan, was far below grade-level expectations for reading readiness when he transferred from another school in March. Greig Pitetti got him hooked up with both Reading Buddies and Howard's afternoon reading program, and the boy made swift progress.

Hemple listened to Reading Buddies herself first, and was impressed with how much fun it was and how often Greig Pitetti offered praise on the recording.

By the end of school, she said, Ethan was above grade-level across the board on his assessments, and "off the charts" in one particular area, phoneme segmentation fluency.

"The Reading Buddies improved him a ton," said Hemple, who has signed Ethan up for Howard's summer reading camp. "I think it really helped him want to learn. I think the technology kept him very in tune with what they were doing and very excited about it. And I think the teacher is another big thing. She wants her children to be above (expectations)."

Kim Ketterer, the district's technology and learning specialist, nominated Greig Pitetti for the ISTE award, which carries with it $500 in cash.

"When I saw that (the award) focused on pre-K to (grade) 2, it was just a natural fit," said Ketterer, who met Greig Pitetti 18 years ago when they were both technology coaches, Greig Pitetti at Howard and Ketterer at nearby Yujin Gakuen Elementary. "She has raised scores considerably with this intervention she's doing, and not only that, but I also saw that these non-English-speaking parents were getting a way to help learn, and feeling comfortable reading with their kids. The spin-off has just been wonderful."

Ketterer said Greig Pitetti has been a central force behind Howard's increasing emphasis on technology. With the help of grants and extra district dollars earmarked for Howard and other high-poverty schools, the school now leads the district in classroom technology, offering a 1-to-1 ratio of laptops to students and ongoing teacher training.

Greig Pitetti, Ketterer said, "just takes to anything new," and has a gift for teaching her colleagues, a few of whom have been reluctant to embrace technology.

"That's probably her strongest point," Ketterer said. "She can break it down step by step. She's not condescending, any question works."

Greig Pitetti's classroom has all the classic trappings of a kindergarten

room: alphabet quilts and posters on the wall, stuffed animals here and there, student artwork on display.

But there's also the SMART board, a computerized white board that Greig Pitetti uses daily, and the cart of Apple laptops - one for each of the 25 children. On each of the five tables is a basket of "Activotes" - chunky, oval, handheld devices students use to register answers during lessons on the overhead projector or SMART board.

On a recent day, students were guessing how many pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters it takes to make a dollar. They used their Activotes to register a guess, and results for the class popped up on the SMART board in the form of a bar graph.

"I have instant results, I have data I can go back and look at, I can see specifically who is voting which way," Greig Pitetti said. "Also, the level of engagement goes way up with this. They're just more engaged and they're thinking harder."

After nine months in class, the children were clearly comfortable with the technology - but Greig Pitetti said nowadays they come to her already hard-wired for it.

Greig Pitetti, a former P.E. teacher who served in Venezuela in the Peace Corps after college, just finished her 33rd year at Howard, although this year she worked half-time on district technology grants.

She could have retired four years ago, but plans to return for one more year, this time as technology coach.

"I was just having too much fun to quit," she said. "It was simply too exciting."