St. Albans teacher mentors young techies

Editor's note: This is part of a series featuring the teachers who entice the minds of local children. Spend a few minutes in Kim Waltemade's computer class, and it's obvious this isn't your typical technology instruction."Who's still working on their Googles?" the St. Albans Country Day School teacher asked a group of eighth graders recently.Students were finishing their own takes on "Google doodles," spiced-up holiday-related versions of the ubiquitous search engine's logo, before switching to the task of the day: building a Web site's navigation box.It's all part of a thoroughly contemporary computer education that, for this group, includes not just office productivity software, but also sophisticated graphic design, Web development and multimedia."A lot of people think that in middle school, it's all keyboarding," Waltemade said. "But when they leave here, they're going to have all the skills they're going to need in high school."Waltemade joined the staff at the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade St. Albans last year with a charge of revamping the private school's computer offerings and establishing standard skill sets for each grade, right down to the youngest students. She's also St. Albans' official tech support, handles common computer repair jobs and maintains the school's Web site.It's quite a change for Waltemade, who spent years in the corporate world, including a stint as a technology trainer for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Though she enjoyed educating adults, Waltemade figured a career working with formative minds would be more rewarding. So, armed with a teaching degree, Waltemade began teaching business to high schoolers on the East Coast. A job transfer for her husband brought Waltemade west, and then the St. Albans position opened up."It comes down to lifestyle," Waltemade said of teaching. "And the atmosphere makes it nice to work here."While technology education in schools is nothing new, it's taking on more importance as high schools, colleges and employers demand ever-more sophisticated computer skills, Waltemade said."As technology progresses, teachers will expect higher and higher quality projects," she said. "They're getting away from, 'Go buy a poster board and write on it.'"Primary grades visit Waltemade's computer lab once a week, but older students come more often. Lessons for the former include the basics - from moving a mouse around to typing correctly - and usually feature a tie-in to what students are studying in class. For instance, students learning how to solve math word problems might access a Web site devoted to putting their math abilities to work even as they hone their pointing and clicking skills.For older students, things get more creative. The Google exercise, for instance, provided an engaging way to familiarize students with sometimes intimidating graphic design software."They need to learn these skills to get to Web design," she said. "And if we're going to learn skills for that, why not make it fun?"On a recent day, 13-year-old Kristina Barnsdale took a break from designing her Web site navigation box to show off a recent project based on the classic iPod "silhouette" ad, with students' profiles substituting for actors'."I Photoshopped in hair because my hair looked horrible that day," she said, adding: "You can be creative and do whatever you want."Matt Lacey, also 13, agreed. "It prepares you for all sorts of stuff," he said of the class. "And first off, it's fun to do."- To suggest a subject for Teacher Feature, e-mail nathand@goldcountrymedia.com, or comment online at rosevillept.com.