Sally Ride: A Salute to a Great Educator

Photo Source: NASA

Today, we salute a great educator who we lost last week.   

“(Sally Ride) made history when she rode the space shuttle Challenger into orbit in 1983, but she was also a NASA adviser, a lifelong educator, and a founder of Sally Ride Science, a venture dedicated to inspiring and teaching young people, especially girls, about science and space.”

Read more about Ride’s accomplishments here.

Teachers: your class can build their own space ship today with this Design Squad Nation DIY Touchdown project.

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Science fair video resource created by young animator

When International Baccalaureate program student, Kevin Temmer,  found out that he would have to complete a Creativity Action Service requirement to graduate from Land O’ Lakes High School, he came up with a great idea.  He decided to pay tribute to one of his favorite teachers through using his talents in computer animation by creating a video called Prepare for the Science Fair.

 

This video shows students the step-by-step process of taking on a science fair project in a fun and engaging way.  Kevin’s animation has been featured on several sites including NASA, the National Science Foundation Knowledge Network, DragonflyTV, and others. We think this is an incredible example of students using 21st Century Skills to give back to the education community. We think this type of project would be an excellent component to any visual arts program. Way to go, Kevin!

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Honored Educator: Nancy Mahoney

Continuing our commitment to feature outstanding educators from across western Massachusetts, here’s another bio from the Pioneer Valley Awards for Excellence in Teaching:

Name: Nancy Mahoney
School: Williamsburg Elementary School
Grade/Content Area: Art

As a teacher, where do you find inspiration?

“I go to museums and look at art to get inspiration for interesting ideas and combinations of materials.  I adore children’s art, and their pleasure working keeps me excited and inspired in my teaching.”

What is one of your most creative/successful lessons and how did it come together?

“Three Tribes is a lesson I enjoy.”

Why did you become and why have you stayed a teacher?

 ”My training and work was in pottery, but when my daughter entered elementary school, I got very interested in teaching art.  A few years later I went back to school to get my art certification. I have stayed a teacher because it is always interesting, always challenging, there is always more to learn, and because I get so much joy watching children create.”

 Congratulations Nancy!  Check back often to read more bios from the Pioneer Valley Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

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Honored Educator: Tina Crane

Continuing our commitment to feature outstanding educators from across western Massachusetts, here’s another bio from the Pioneer Valley Awards for Excellence in Teaching:

Name: Tina Crane
School: Sgt. Robert R. Litwin
Grade/Content Area: Grade 5

What is one of your most creative/successful lessons and how did it come together?

“One of our standards is writing business letters. The students write a formal letter to a business, or organization, that they are interested in learning more about.  The response has been wonderful. We have received letters and press kits from as far away as California and even Japan!  Many times, local community members visit our classroom to address the students directly (bankers, firefighters, contractors, etc.). Each year this lesson is one of the most popular among students, giving them first-hand knowledge of that particular business or tradesman.”

What is your favorite website you use to support your classroom teaching?

“My favorite website is www.smarttech.com as it supports Smart Board lessons and provides both interactive and static lessons across all subject areas.”

Why did you become and why have you stayed a teacher?

“I became a teacher because I always loved working with kids. I volunteered in various capacities at my son’s school throughout the years. I later became a paraprofessional and sincerely enjoyed the educational process. I began taking evening classes to obtain my teaching certification.  I continue to teach for many of the same reasons that brought me into this profession. Watching the student’s thirst for knowledge, and all of their successes throughout the school year.”

 Congratulations Tina!  Check back often to read more bios from the Pioneer Valley Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

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Honored Educator: Ashley Fitzroy

Here is another profile of one of the honored educators from the Pioneer Valley Awards for Excellence in Teaching:

Name: Ashley Fitzroy
School: Greenfield Middle School
Grade/Content Area: Grade 7, Language Arts

What was it like for you early in your teaching career?  What did you find particularly challenging and how did you address it?  

“I am still very early in my teaching career.  I am 24 years old and have just completed my first full year of teaching.  One of the many challenges I faced this year was finding the time to grade and provide meaningful feedback for 120 writing assignments at a time.  Throughout the year, I developed and re-developed rubrics that would help identify the most common errors in student writing, yet remain flexible enough to address students’ unique needs.  This is just one of many strategies that I’m sure I’ll try out over the course of my career.”

What is your favorite website you use to support your classroom teaching?

 ”I really enjoy using the grammar and punctuation resources at http://www.chompchomp.com/menu.htm.”

What is one of the biggest rewards for you as a teacher?

 ”It is so rewarding to watch students grow as writers and as thinkers throughout the school year. I have them keep a journal in which they write every single time my class meets.  For their final prompt of the year, they had to read their journals and write about how they grew over the course of 180 days.  Many students shared that not only did their writing become more clear and coherent the farther they got in the year, but their thoughts became more mature and organized as well.  As adolescents turning into teens, students took pride in their growth, and I took pride in helping them achieve it.”

Congratulations Ashley!  Check back often to read more bios from the Pioneer Valley Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

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Honored Educator: Amy Fremgen

Continuing our commitment to feature outstanding educators from across western Massachusetts, here’s another bio from the Pioneer Valley Awards for Excellence in Teaching:

Name: Amy Fremgen
School: Willie Ross School for the Deaf
Grade/Content Area: 9-12 English & Math

What was it like for you early in your teaching career? 

“I recall being on pins and needles my first several years hoping I was doing right by my students.  I found that finding friends in fellow teachers gave me an avenue to express my concerns and frustrations.  Plus, they were a great sounding board for new ideas and lesson plans.  Teachers are a generous lot ~ always willing to share ideas and materials.”

As a teacher, where do you find inspiration? 

“The students inspire every day!  I especially am inspired by those “Ah-ha” moments.  Those times when a student goes from not understanding a concept TO understanding the concept because of what I just taught.  This is kind of silly, but I look at teaching as screwing in light bulbs.  Most people who interact with our students see them as light bulbs either turned on, where they already know the information, or turned off, where they have yet to learn the information.  We, teachers, are the ones who actually twist and turn, teach and teach, the bulbs until they finally make the connection and turn on.  The “Ah-ha” moment!”

What do you find helps to bring humor and fun into your classroom?

“If I bring humor, myself, into the classroom, then the students will follow suit.  A conscious goal is to make my room safe and fun: A place where we can laugh and learn at the same time.  I find that if a student has a positive emotion attached to a lesson or concept, they can more easily recall that lesson.  Plus, my Lady Gaga glasses add to the fun.”

Congratulations Amy!  Check back often to read more bios from the Pioneer Valley Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

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Honored Educator: Lauren Smith

As a partner to the Pioneer Valley Awards for Excellence in Teaching, WGBY has committed to featuring outstanding educators from across our region.  Each honoree was nominated by a district administrator and has received an award for their contributions in the field of education.  In each of our bios, we will highlight an individual by sharing his/her thoughts on teaching.  Here is just one of the many talented individuals honored this year.

Name: Lauren Smith
School: West Springfield Middle School
Grade/Content Area: Physical Education

What is a favorite resource that you like to bring into your classroom to enrich a lesson?
“I think my enthusiasm and being a good role model are my favorite resources. I tell my students that I do everything that I am telling them to do!”

What is one of your most creative/successful lessons and how did it come together?
“When Harry Potter just came out, the first book, my colleagues and I came up with a form of Quidditch that was so fun and a great way to combine fitness and literature.”

What is one of the biggest rewards for you as a teacher?
“When I see my students out in the world as adults and they remember me and something we did together, that is a great reward.”

Congratulations Lauren!  Check back often to read more bios from the Pioneer Valley Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

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Teachers’ Influence: Nurturing Students’ Unique Talents

I suspect that most all of us who have found meaningful professional work – and perhaps especially teachers — can tell the story of at least one teacher‘s strong positive influence.  In a recent NY Times Op-ed article, “What I Learned at School,” Marie Myung-Ok Lee, who now teaches writing at Brown,  tells how two former high school English teachers gave her the attention and confidence to find acceptance in her school and go on to become a writer.

Perceived as a “bookish introvert” by her peers, Ms. Lee took refuge in reading and writing stories.  As is often the case, a teacher recognized Ms. Lee’s literary ability at a critical time in her life and took the time to guide her studies and challenge her abilities. (Among the many valuable lessons Ms. Lee must have learned, she tells how despite sweating palms she touched her classmates with her insights about poet Sylvia Plath.)  Fortunate that her next year’s English teacher was equally sensitive to her unique talents, Ms. Lee was allowed to skip classes in grammar where she already excelled and work in the library on a story that would later be published in Seventeen Magazine.

Standing quietly in the background, both Ms. Lee’s teachers enabled her to gain  favorable recognition among her peers and pursue her life’s work.  She concludes that “With today’s pressure on teachers to “teach to the test,” I wonder if any would or could take the time to coax out the potential in a single, shy student. . . Good teaching helps make productive and fully realized adults — a result that won’t show up in each semester’s test scores and statistics.”

We’d love to hear your comments about a teacher who made an impact on your life or about a student whose  individual strengths you’ve nurtured, despite today’s budgetary constraints and standardized assessments.  Share some of your thoughts with us using the blog comments feature!

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