Apple 1 to 1 Empowers Unique Learners

Profiles in Success: Currey Ingram Academy

Brentwood, TN — When Cassity Degges was preparing for her role in “The Tempest,” learning her lines was no small task. Degges, like all of her classmates at Currey Ingram Academy, has a learning difference which can make memorization challenging. But Degges simply popped in her ear buds, pushed “play” on her iPod, and listened to her own recitation of her lines … and in no time, she had the play down cold. With Currey Ingram’s technology immersion throughout its curriculum — and a 1 to 1 learning program based on iBook laptops — such individualized learning is now commonplace.

“By giving every student an iBook, we’ve integrated technology throughout the curriculum, which has had a tremendous impact on learning.”

— Wilkes Baugh, Director of Technology and Webmaster, Currey Ingram Academy

All of the students at Currey Ingram have unique learning styles; many are gifted learners. In the past, their learning differences have had the most impact in the areas of informational organization, focus on lessons, and their ability to communicate their learning. With the 2002 distribution of iBook laptops to all students in grades 5-12, says Wilkes Baugh, the school’s director of technology and webmaster, such differences have become much less problematic.

“We recognize that our students are unique, and that each one will express himself or herself differently,” Baugh says. “We wanted to provide a variety of methods for that self-expression. Also, we wanted students to have the ability to instantaneously go online and do research, and to have their questions answered. By giving every student an iBook we’ve integrated technology throughout the curriculum, which has had a tremendous impact on learning.”

Preparing Students for the 21st Century

Currey Ingram students have used Macintosh computers since the 1980s. At that time, students trooped into a conventional computer lab, and shared the school’s collection of desktop systems. But Baugh says the needs of today’s students have changed. Now that each student in grades 5-12 has an iBook laptop 24/7, he believes they are becoming better prepared for college, and for their participation in the 21st-century workforce.

iBook Opens Up New Avenues for Learning