By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer

Tyler ISD elementary and middle school students and their parents now have access at home to a tool teachers are using at school to enhance reading and math instruction.

Parents and students can log in at home to use the Internet-based Riverdeep Destination Math, Destination Math Spanish and Destination Reading software, which teachers have been using in the classroom and in computers labs at school.

"It's very prescriptive. It has step-by-step instructional models; it's interactive - it's entertaining. It holds their attention," said Melissa Wynn, a technology coach in the curriculum and instructional department at TISD, adding there is also a teacher management portion of the software that allows teachers to prescribe specific lessons for students to work on. "It's the best software I've seen."

TISD bought the math component for elementary schools last year after it was piloted and teachers provided feedback on it, Ms. Wynn said. Middle school came on board with math this year. A group of elementary teachers also worked to align the Destination Math lessons to the TISD curriculum, making it easier for teachers to use, she said. The same alignment done for math is planned for the reading software, which was purchased more recently, she said. "It's enhancing their existing instruction - it's not replacing what they're doing in the classroom," Ms. Wynn said of the Destination software.

Dot Corbyn, a fifth-grade math teacher at Clarkston Elementary, began using Destination Math more than a year ago with tutorial groups. This school year, she began using it with students in the classroom and in the computer lab as well as for tutorial groups. She agrees it's another tool to help teach concepts in a different way. A glance at one of the lessons showed the software offers colorful, animated features as well as audio that talks to the students as they complete math lessons on everything from fractions and decimals to geometry and probability. "There are so many different ways we approach it," Ms. Corbyn said of teaching concepts. "This is just another way to approach it, so they hear it a different way and it's also in an environment they're really used to." Students have grown up with technology, Ms. Corbyn said. And she wants to do more to help integrate math with technology to make the subject more fun for students. "I want my kids to learn math, but more importantly, I want them to love math," she said. " ... I think this is another way of making math fun for them." Ms. Corbyn said Destination Math alone would not be enough, but coupling it with her instruction, hands-on lessons, use of manipulatives and games, it allows students to hear a concept in many different ways. "We've got so many types of learners," she said. "When they get it from both directions, something clicks. I've heard that many times - that they didn't understand it here (on the computer), and it clicked while I was up there on the board talking to them, or vice versa."  The software allows the teacher to assign lessons throughout the six weeks as well as tests. As they follow along with the program, students complete a folder of worksheets on which they receive a grade. The teacher can also specially assign lessons to students on concepts on which they might need extra help or students can work on higher levels. Ms. Corbyn encourages parents to use the program at home. The software allows students to get more practice on concepts beyond what was assigned by the teacher. "The more exposure they get the better," Ms. Corbyn said. "Parents are always asking me, 'what can I do at home to help them?'" she said. "This is another way that parents can help them at home."

The district also recently purchased Destination Reading software. According to TISD, Destination Reading provides fiction and non-fiction and was rated "tops" by the Florida Center for Reading Research. It includes activities such as songs and word games. Students are plugged into technology in their everyday lives - and that is shaping the methods being used in the classrooms now, school officials said. "No longer can we just stand up in front of the classroom and just lecture," Ms. Wynn said. "The fact that it's so interactive and so engaging - (students) love it. They ask, 'can we do Destination?' That speaks highly."

The Destination Web site is password protected for students and parents. The Web site can be accessed by visiting www.tylerisd.org and clicking on the Parents/Students link and then on Destination Success from the drop-down menu.

For more detailed information, parents may access the TISD Destination Parent Resource Web site at www.tylerisd.org/departments/curriculum/destination.htm.