LAFAYETTE, Ga. - LaFayette Middle School math teacher Chastity Steadman walks between the student desks in her darkened classroom, discussing square roots as she works problems on the board from a distance.
Steadman has no chalk, and the "board" actually is a wall-mounted computer screen about five feet wide.
A device called a Smart Slate transmits her scribblings wirelessly from the piece of technology in her hand to the large, touch-sensitive Smart Board on the wall.
Her students are armed with hand-held response devices that allow them to answer questions from their desks, the results relayed instantly to Steadman, who can immediately offer help.
A group of more than 50 Walker County teachers and technical staff toured LaFayette Middle on Tuesday, hoping to gain that same level of comfort in a high-tech, modern classroom and eventually pass along their know-how to teachers in the rest of the system, said Michael Tipton, Walker County coordinator of school improvement.
He said the technology that students will use when they enter college continues to advance, and teachers must keep pace to help them reach their potential.
"Are we five years ahead? Are we right now? I think we're maybe two years behind on (technology) the kids are getting," he said.
Walker schools have been beefing up technology for the past few years thanks to funding from a number of grants, he said. Now, school officials are waiting for a large shipment of equipment such as iPods and iPads, and teachers need to be getting ready, he said.
"The trend is to keep becoming more and more mobile because space is becoming such a premium in our schools," he said.
LaFayette Middle principal Mike Culberson started Tuesday's training session with an inspirational video that he played from his iPhone to a 20- by 30-foot projection screen and high-quality sound system installed in the school gymnasium.
Culberson said the middle school and Naomi Elementary School were the focus of the system's "training the trainers" effort Tuesday. The idea of doing the training in-house is to keep the costs of educational development down while spreading technological expertise throughout the system, he said.
LaFayette Middle and Naomi Elementary are technologically well-heeled with Smart Boards and Promethean boards - two common brands of wall-mounted, touch-sensitive interactive computer screens - projectors, document cameras to display paperwork on a screen, and mobile laptop carts, making the two schools natural training grounds for Walker's teachers, he said.
Debbie Nix, technology specialist for Stone Creek, Gilbert and Chattanooga Valley elementary schools and Chattanooga Valley Middle, said training is better if teachers can see the technology in action.
In recent years, the influx of technology such as Smart Boards and Promethean boards has transformed classrooms, Nix said.
"Teachers have come a long way," Nix said, but the equipment keeps advancing, too, so training helps educators keep up.
Delores McKee, a new technology specialist for Rossville Middle, Rossville Elementary and Cherokee Ridge Elementary, said she was impressed with the technology on display.
McKee said she was glad to see experienced teachers and students using the equipment with such confidence and enthusiasm while she was in science teacher Carol Shaw's room. Students were using the touch-sensitive screen on the wall at the front of the class to point to parts of a microscopic cell.
"Watching the kids in science lab and actually seeing them go up to the board and encourage each other was good to see," McKee said.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/BenBenton.