An Interview with Lari Nelson

The expression, ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re never going to get there,’ lives on. However, when it comes to technology, we often struggle to predict what will be next on the horizon. Dr. Nelson stresses the importance of having the right people on board before we concern ourselves with selecting the right technology.

The credit for success, in Dr. Nelson’s experience, is always extended to the people who are willing to take risks and work incredibly hard to achieve the desired results. She places the emphasis on the individuals who will have the capacity for navigating the territory that is beyond our imagination.

How did you lead your school through a technological transformation?

I started at this school eight years ago. It was necessary to entirely rebrand ourselves. Our school had a reputation for being a failing institution. Nobody wanted to send their kids here.

Part of that rebranding effort was to rename the school. We took inspiration from our city’s theme or motto of “The City of Arts & Innovation,” and we put the tagline on, forming Bryant School of Arts and Innovation.

Part of our curriculum has a very strong arts program. Also in the tagline, however, was innovation, so it was very important that we do things at this school to live up to that aspiration. Not only does innovation mean thinking outside the box and trying new things, but people also associate it with technology and preparing children to compete in the global society.

When we started this special program at Bryant eight years ago, the school district didn’t give us any extra funding. I had to work within the regular budget that everybody else has to build up the pieces of art and innovation.

The first thing I did just to get technology into the hands of the kids was purchase a lot of refurbished computers.

However, technology is changing so rapidly. Once you purchase something new, it is already out of date.

My thought was, “We can get refurbished laptops for a fraction of the price and get the technology into the students’ hands quickly.”

I was able to get a device ratio of one-to-one in grades four, five, and six, and one per every two students in second and some third grades. Then we received a grant from Target Corporation which purchased iPod Touch devices for kindergarten and first grade. Part of this grant allowed students to take the technology back and forth from school to home. This is how we began our journey to get technology in the hands of students.

How did you teach teachers how to use the technology?

That was the next big piece. We had teachers with varying comfort levels of implementing technology. Those who were young, fresh out of college, were all gung-ho and ready to go. We had some individuals who were close to retirement and were more fearful. There was a vast spectrum of comfort levels.

One thing we did was to set aside some money from our Title I funds to hire a computer resource assistant, or what we like to call our technology specialist. She went to each classroom once a week for a forty-minute period to teach technology.

It was not like the old days, when I first started teaching, and teachers would take their students to a computer lab where they would practice typing or something else for the weekly visit to the lab. Our computer tech person actually began teaching kids how to use technology so that they could use it throughout the week.

Our students are now fully proficient in the Google Suite. They know how to build slideshows. Even in first grade, they are building slideshows and embedding pictures and video. They also know how to screen pass. The teachers use programs like Padlet to have kids brainstorm ideas.

Something else that happened while having our computer tech come into the classrooms was that because she was a classified employee, she couldn’t be alone with students. Therefore, the teachers had to stay with the students as the primary supervisors. This was great because the teachers learned right alongside their kids.

No longer could they have the excuse, “I’m not comfortable with that,” or “I don’t know how to work it,” because our teachers were working and learning right with our students.

Talk a little bit about how you watched this transformation within the school?

We are now a one-to-one device school which happened within the second year. Today, one can walk into any classroom, especially in the upper grades, and the kids will be using technology at any time. It is a tool. It is not just for computer time or project time. They are using it to support learning all day long.

Whether it is personalized learning at their own pace or they are all reading articles and then comparing and contrasting, it is really a tool that they use throughout the day and not just during technology time.

The interesting thing that has happened with the staff is that those who were resistant or phobic have become fully immersed and integrate technology throughout their days, as well. Their proficiency has increased. When we go to district training, those teachers are shocked at how far behind other schools are. It is just like second nature to them now.

Our teachers are comfortable expecting their kids to use technology. They expect each other to use it. It is great to even look at their presentations that they use to share content with the kids. It is not just, “Open up your book and let’s read.” They are comfortable making slideshows, embedding videos, and making interactive quizzes on Kahoot. I would say that our instruction is much more engaging and much more current.

Where do you think technology is going?

I don’t know where it’s going.

Who would have ever imagined that we wouldn’t need to carry large devices and could just type and talk via our watches? Who knows where technology is going. The possibilities are amazing!

What I do know is that we are creating students who learn and think in ways that align with what the future needs.

Our students will be the inventors of the new technologies.

I think the important thing is to stay current. Stay abreast of technological advances and hang out on social media so we can see the latest things and what others are trying. Just staying current is critical because it is ever-changing.

If we had remained merely using technology once each week during the computer lab visit or having students use typing programs within our classrooms like we used to do, we would never have known about all of these other wonderful things that kids can use to enhance their learning.

Coming from a school with many Title I students and English language learners, how has technology impacted their learning?

One of the things that we have been blessed with are things like virtual reality goggles. Our kids who have never been to the beach or to the snow can go there virtually. We can also build experiences, like with our fourth graders, who just did a unit on the human body and were able to go inside the human body (kind of like a Magic School Bus experience).

They were able to float through the body and see different parts. They also were able to visit the Great Wall of China and experience things virtually as if they had been right there.

This helps prepare students in understanding how to use technology as a tool and grow their language skills in the process.

What results have you seen and what guidance do you have for other leaders striving to better integrate technology in their schools?

If we were to log achievement via state test scores, prior to us rebranding the school, our site ranked 28th out of the 29 elementary schools in Riverside Unified School District.

That’s the reason people didn’t want to send their children here.

Within the next couple of years, we were in the top ten. For the last three years, we have maintained our ranking of seventh (based on state test scores). I know there is a lot more data that goes in as far as demographics and other things that need to be considered, but this growth was important to our entire school community and continues to validate our efforts.

We also were awarded the California Gold Ribbon Award and Title I Achieving School Award in 2016, and then in 2017, we were recognized by the Core Knowledge Foundation as being a School of Distinction, one of nine in the nation. Most recently we received a county award for Academic Excellence and Innovation.

We are quite proud!

In order to have a successful program, you have to have the right people on the bus. We wouldn’t be able to achieve this if it weren’t for the tremendous staff members we have, their efforts to be innovative, willingness to take chances, and dedication to put in the hard work.

It is not just having the devices; it is also having the right people.