Parent Teacher Magazine Union County Public Schools - May/June 2019 | Page 4
Prospect Elementary student leads weekly technology class for his peers
On a Tuesday afternoon in February,
Prospect Elementary fourth grader Mason
Johnson walked into Sheila Nyman’s second
grade classroom.
With a laptop tucked under his arm, and his
best friend Nate Outen by his side, he turned to
the students to make an announcement.
“Ok, everyone. We’re about to get started.
Today’s lesson is going to start with a video
about the Cyber Five, which are the rules
for being safe on the internet,” Mason said
confidently, before leading a class of nearly 20
students in a hands-on tutorial of Google Drive
and keyboard shortcuts.
Technology, Mason said later as he sat in the
media center, is what he has loved for as long
as he can remember.
“I’ve been into technology since I was really
young, probably since I was about three years
old. I didn’t know what technology was actually
capable of at the time, so I spent a few years
tinkering around with computers,” he said.
“From there, I started making custom widgets,
changing the Google logo on my screen to say
‘Mason is Awesome’ and things like that.”
As Mason’s passion for all things technology
began to grow, Prospect Elementary Principal
Dr. Kim Chinnis couldn’t help but to take note of
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2 • May/June 2019 • Parent Teacher Magazine
his budding skills.
As a Leader in Me School, Prospect Elementary regularly
teaches leadership principles to students and creates a school
wide culture of leadership and student empowerment. Students
are taught that everyone has the ability to be a leader, create
change and lead their own learning.
So after talking with Mason’s parents and teachers, Chinnis
found the perfect opportunity to pair his growing leadership skills
with his love of technology.
“We didn’t want technology to be a distraction for him, so I said,
‘Let’s talk about how we can channel this in a positive way. I asked
him if he’d be interested in sharing what he’s learned with a group
of students,” Chinnis said, adding that Mason was required to bring
lesson plans to her for approval before he could lead a classes. “It
started with him just teaching one second grade class, and then he
got a friend involved. They started to teach students in the entire
grade level and then it just really snowballed from there.”
In fact, Mason and Nate are now in talks with Chinnis to
expand their technology course to third grade students.
When he grows up, Mason said he’d like to do several things
including playing professional hockey and working for the
military designing weapons. Above all, he aspires to start his own
technology company.
But for right now, while’s he’s still in elementary school, Mason
is content with bringing his love of technology to his peers.
“It’s really great seeing the younger kids learn new things that
Nate and I teach them,” he said. “I don’t get nervous when I’m in
front of the classes because I’m doing and talking about what I
know best, which is tech.”