Teaching JROTC for Future Success in the Classroom

Smart boards. Clickers. Grade books.

Those names are used to describe the new technology that will be in the hands of many JROTC instructors and their students in North Alabama as the new school year begins.

About 35 instructors from North Alabama as well as Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia met July 23 at a regional meeting at Columbia High to learn how to use cutting edge technology known as the Classroom Performance System to make their courses more interactive, interesting and fun for both instructors and students.

"By your attendance here, you are indicating you want to be a better instructor. Technology is only as good as the user," JROTC instructor retired Air Force Maj. Roosevelt Williamson told the participants. "This system helps to invigorate and engage more students. It will revolutionize how you teach."

CPS is a computer hardware and software system being used by JROTC programs throughout the nation to develop and teach lesson plans, utilize multimedia and web-based instruction, and conduct student assessments with on-screen polls and tests. The system uses Easiteach software to build lessons using icons, sounds, simulations, video clips, games and other interactive features.

"It's going to help us be better teachers and have more fun with our students," Williamson said.

Army JROTC programs have been receiving the systems since the spring. Some instructors have already used them quite a bit in the classroom while others are planning to introduce the system with the new school year. Air Force JROTC programs have recently started getting deliveries of the systems while the Marines and Navy JROTC programs are now purchasing the systems.

"Of the 108 high schools in my region, two-thirds have this technology," said retired Col. David Slaughter, the Air Force JROTC area administrator in the Southeast region.

When the technology is completely in place, it will represent a $1 million investment in 884 Air Force JROTC programs and a $1.5 to $2 million investment in 1,300 Army JROTC programs.

"This is the leading edge in terms of technology," Slaughter said. "The cost per classroom is not that expensive. But outfitting every classroom in a school system would be expensive.

"We have the ability in the JROTC programs to incorporate technology in our classrooms. For that reason, we have been pushing the envelope. We are using the same technology in the Air Force and Army JROTC programs and we are seeing the success of that application."

CPS uses a whiteboard or screen on which lessons, quizzes and tests, subject material and other teaching tools can be projected. During a class lesson, the instructor can rely on CPS to provide information using graphics, icons and multimedia features. They can use CPS to poll students to determine the basic understanding of a subject, and they can test students as a group, with each student having their own handheld remote control device - "clicker" -- that will allow them to choose on-screen answers to questions.

"Kids are so media conscious and so media savvy today that this computer system will really allow them to interact and let them see how well they are doing in the classroom. This will keep them interested and interacting," Slaughter said. "When you put a clicker in their hand you engage them in a way they are familiar with."

CPS also allows instructors to test students to see how well they have mastered material and to determine which subject areas need to concentrated on in further instruction. Answers to questions in a test are made anonymously from other students (although students are graded and scores are kept in a computer-generated grade book), and then they can be grouped and analyzed to determine the amount of understanding and learning among participating students.

"The learning is going to be much easier because the system helps you keep the students involved in the learning process," Williamson said. "Lecture is not really received well with students. They need to be involved and they like the immediate feedback this can offer them. This gets them into reading, thinking and interacting."

CPS also allows instructors to have better management of the classroom, giving them the freedom to move around the room to check on students as they teach the lesson.

Computer-based instruction programs like CPS provide benefits for students and instructors in the classrooms of today and the future. Using the technology can better prepare JROTC students for college, where computer-based instruction is getting more and more prevalent.

JROTC instructors retired Marine Master Gunnery Sgt. Everette "Red" Hodges of Johnson High and retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Elijah Porter of Butler High have yet to use CPS in their classrooms.

"I'm excited about what this system can do," Porter said. "I will have a better idea of all it can do once I start using it and applying it in the classroom."

"There's never going to be a perfect system," added Hodges. "But this is pretty close. The kids are going to like it."

The JROTC regional meeting was the first of many that Columbia High hopes to host, said retired Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Harry Hobbs, who is the senior JROTC instructor at Columbia and who coordinates a quarterly meeting for North Alabama JROTC instructors.

"We need to work together to share best practices. We need to work as a team to educate children to be better citizens," Hobbs said.

"We are in a kind of war in our work to education children. We need to share techniques and technologies so we can be armed as the best instructors for these children. Meetings where JROTC instructors from schools like Grissom, Sparkman and Johnson show and tell me what right looks like is something that benefits all of us."