69“«Ć½

Classroom Technology

A Student-Staffed ā€˜Genius Bar': Why Itā€™s Working for This Middle School

By Alyson Klein ā€” July 05, 2023 4 min read
070523 middle school genius bar 01 BS
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

When Elizabeth Blye became the librarian at Anne M. Dorner Middle School in Ossining, N.Y. she knew she would ditch her long-serving predecessorā€™s devotion to the Dewey decimal system and organize the space in a way that made sense to students.

And she knew who to turn to initially for help: Middle schoolers like Owen Brennan and Khadija Mustapha, who had been in Blyeā€™s class in a previous role at another school in the district.

But she didnā€™t know just how far their partnership in giving students ownership over the library would go.

Less than two years later, the Ossining school districtā€™s only middle school has its own full-fledged ā€œGenius barā€ā€”inspired by Appleā€™s similarly named help deskā€”staffed by students who can recommend a graphic novel or mystery series to their classmates, re-shelve and repair books, fix a Chromebook, even give teachers one-on-one help in using technology.

The program is set to expand to the districtā€™s high school, where students can participate as part of a course, for credit. Owen and Khadija have even earned Google certifications, a micro credential that most teachers in the district havenā€™t matched.

The Genius Bar began as a curiosity, with other students asking Owen, Khadija, and others why they were working behind the libraryā€™s circulation desk. Bacon and Blye turned it into an afterschool club, with more than 20 members, many of whom drop into the library at lunch and other times of the day, as well as the scheduled time after school.

The students have become a fix-it crew for the rest of the district. Case-in-point: The districtā€™s early childhood education center bought a weather-related tech tool to use with its students, but no one there had time to figure out how to assemble it.

ā€œSo they shipped it over to us and the Genius kids put it together,ā€ said Allison Bacon, the districtā€™s coordinator of instructional technology, who was among the educators and students from Ossining who spoke about the program at the International Society for Technology in Educationā€™s annual conference in Philadelphia in June.

ā€œEvery week, new boxes would appear of different things and people were like, ā€˜hey, can you have the kids build this or can you have the kids make this?ā€™ā€ Bacon said.

When artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT emerged this past school year, the Genius Bar kids were among the first to experiment with them. ā€œIt almost became like a pilot group where students try out new things, figure out what works, figure out whatā€™s exciting for kids,ā€ Bacon said. That, in turn, allows ā€œkids to really explore in a way that they might not get to in other parts of their day.ā€

How the program helps save time and money

The program has been a money and time saver, Bacon said. It can cost $150 to $300 to send out one Chromebook for repair, she said. Whatā€™s more, having students act as the repair squad kept ā€œeverything in house and make it really, really fast rather than a two-week turnaround to get your kidsā€™ devices back to them.ā€

070523 middle school genius bar 02 BS

Itā€™s also helped some students find a social ā€œsense of belongingā€ as they navigate middle school. ā€œKids have learned to work with kids in other grades and [build relationships] with kids from other social groups that they otherwise wouldnā€™t have been a part of,ā€ Bacon said.

It might have even inspired some students to check out a career path that never would have occurred to them otherwise.

ā€œI think a lot of people probably didnā€™t realize that they were interested in taking apart Chromebooks and learning about technology,ā€ Owen said. ā€œBut after this, they realized that itā€™s maybe something that they want to pursueā€ professionally.

Ossining has made sure that students can continue to hone these skills after they leave middle school. At the urging of some of the original Genius Bar students, the district will offer the program as an elective computer science course at the high school level.

To be sure, Ossining isnā€™t the only district that taps students to fix devices. Districts are increasingly experimenting with this model, in part to deal with the ballooning number of laptops and tablets purchased with pandemic relief funds that usually arrived without a commensurate increase in district IT staff. Organizations like Digital Promise, a nonprofit that promotes the smart use of technology in education, encourage the idea.

But itā€™s less typical to find a district that has made the program about both tech and library space, educators who attended the session where Ossining presented said.

Still, educators wondered how Blye and Bacon make sure the Genius Bar doesnā€™t just turn into a big middle school social session.

Educators at the school donā€™t necessarily discourage that socializing. When students are having fun, ā€œyou might not bring a broken Chromebook out [for them to fix],ā€ Blye said. ā€œItā€™s like OK, well, letā€™s talk about our favorite books and whoā€™s reading what and whatā€™s going on? And you can kind of lean into the atmosphere of that.ā€

Coverage of afterschool learning opportunities is supported in part by a grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, at . Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by 
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide ā€” elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Classroom Technology Most Teens Believe Conspiracy Theories, See News as Biased. What Can 69“«Ć½ Do?
Teenagersā€”like adultsā€”struggle to recognize accurate, unbiased information in a chaotic digital media landscape.
6 min read
Fake News concept with gray words 'fact' in row and single bold word 'fake' highlighted by black magnifying glass on blue background
Firn/iStock/Getty
Classroom Technology Spotlight Spotlight on Blended Learning
This Spotlight will help you analyze key research on school tech use, explore strategies for engaging virtual instruction, and more.
Classroom Technology Opinion This Group is Trying to Teach ā€˜Digital Literacy.ā€™ Hereā€™s How
How can students avoid getting duped by deepfakes online?
6 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Classroom Technology Opinion 69“«Ć½ Are 'Digital Natives,' But Hereā€™s Where They Struggle
The internet is awash with dubious claims. How can educators teach students to distinguish fact from fiction?
6 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty