By Emily Hill
Madison Elementary School is giving
its students the tools they need today to become the tech leaders of tomorrow
through a club known as the MAD SQUAD.
MAD SQUAD meets every Thursday with
the Instructional Support Coach and Technology Aides for one hour. The goal is to provide skills needed to
thrive in today’s virtual world.
The club is comprised of students in
4th through 6th grade.
They had to fill out an application and get teacher and parent
permission to join. We currently have
ten members. It empowers students to
provide technology support and leadership in their school.
Cassandra said, “My favorite part of
the MAD SQUAD is helping the school out.
It has supported me in learning new technology.”
Technology Aide Mr. Nguyen added, “MAD SQUAD directly involves students with the technology
troubleshooting process and gives them firsthand experience at a time when
technology is evolving rapidly.”
Students support other classes by
troubleshooting, downloading applications for students, setting up Google
accounts, and teaching various applications to students and teachers. We are currently working on Google Classroom,
Google Docs and Lexia. Some of the
students are learning to code and will soon be teaching classes how to do
that. If a teacher has a special request
we learn how to do it one week and go in and teach the class the following
week.
Dr. Yost said, “As a new
teacher here in Central Unified, I appreciate the assistance and tech support
these young leaders have provided to my class as we are increasing the
use of our tablets. The MAD SQUAD is an invaluable asset and those kids
have saved the day for me more than once!”
Priscilla said, “Her favorite part
about being in the club is we get to help the little kids with their tablet
problems.”
The students said they have learned a
lot so far and are looking forward to sharing more of their knowledge with
others as the year goes on.
5th grade student Hayden
said, “I have learned a lot in MAD SQUAD.
One of the things I learned was how to work with more applications and
better understand technology.”
The students have been a huge support
for both students and teachers.
