Camp gives kids academic boost

Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier

Donnavan Fulton, 8, works with an Internet math game while Chaz Jones (right) and Ammani Hamilton play other games Thursday during an academic camp at Charleston Development Academy.

Charleston Development Academy rising third-grader Joshua White has known about the state's achievement test since kindergarten.

This year will be the first time that Joshua has to take a lengthy standardized exam, and the prospect makes him "a little nervous," he said.

"I'm afraid I'm going to fail," he said, adding that he's never been nervous for or failed a test. "I don't know if it's going to be too hard."

But Joshua is enrolled in an intensive, academic summer camp that should help ease some of his fears. South Carolina State University's 1890 Research & Extension Program has enabled 12 of the third-grade class' 19 students at this inner-city charter school to participate in the camp that uses technology to teach content and test-taking strategies.

The program has been working with Charleston Development Academy for the past three years, but this is the first time the program has sponsored a summer camp for students. The 1890 program provides outreach services to many disadvantaged communities to improve the quality of life in those areas, said Elizabeth Mosely, the program's communications coordinator.

The camp uses Smartboards and remote controllers to allow students to interact with the ongoing lesson. For example, when a question is posed to the class, such as what time is on a clock, students can click their remotes to send in their answers.

The technology enables teachers to know quickly which students are getting the concept and which ones aren't, said Shawn Johnson, a teacher coach at the academy and camp instructor.

Students learn test-taking skills, such as using the process of elimination, finding the main idea and looking for transitional words to identify the order of events, Johnson said. They also learn academic content, he said.

After four weeks in the camp, Johnson said students were sharper and more eager to learn. All the camp's participants were either on or ahead of where they should be for their grade level prior to the camp, and Johnson's hope was that they will be at least five weeks ahead in the curriculum by the start of the school year. Students who were behind their peers were being helped this summer in a separate program, he said.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.