Chataignier teacher earns award for computer teaching success

Jan Veillon says she has found a computer program that motivates her elementary school students to study even while on recess, at home and even in the doctor’s waiting room. Because teachers update lessons on the Odyssey program each week, students who miss school due to an illness can still keep up with their lessons.
The full name of the program the parish purchased is CompassLearning Odyssey, and Veillon describes it as “flipping phenomenal,” because of the way the students have taken to it.
Veillon was one of five educators in the nation recently named “Compass Learning Classroom Heroes,” by the software provider for the teachers’ success with the computer program.
Veillon, the librarian and technology lab teacher at Chataignier Elementary School, has all 350 students in her lab each week. She said even kindergarten students learn how to use their passwords to access their learning accounts in their first week of class.
The key to the software’s success is involving teachers in their students’ individual programs. Students are attracted to the software visuals and there is always something happening on the screen, even while a learning exercise is being loaded, Veillon said.
Besides the usual subjects, such as math, reading, science and social studies, “the kids are exposed to fine arts they otherwise wouldn’t be,” such as classical music and the works of the great artists.
One of Veillon’s students, Olivia Thibodeaux, said when she couldn’t take part in phys ed recently, she worked on a lesson on Odyssey. The student said the software is easy to get used to because “everybody’s on the computer at home.”
In fact, Veillon said one of the teachers at Chataignier Elementary thanked her for “pre-teaching her vocabulary words,” although it was actually the computer program that helped the student.
Veillon said she has found that students who may be shy or embarrassed to raise their hands in a class full of other students can use the Odyssey program to get the answer they’re looking for, and then they continue to seek more answers.
She also has seen students helping younger students with the Odyssey, citing a recent example of a sixth grader helping a first grade student.
An innovation Veillon calls “the wave of the future,” is the hardware configuration. Ten monitors are connected to one PC and each of the 10 students can work on their individualized lessons simultaneously.
Veillon said the advancement in ranking for Chataignier Elememtary School, from a C grade to a B grade, is due at least in part “because of constant use of this program,” and she added, “there are a lot of steps,” between the two grade rankings.