Instructional Technology - Awards and Recognition » TUT Award Nominees

April TUT Award Nominees!

Kim Estes — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:23:34 +0000

We asked for help in recoginizing those teachers who really used technology in the classroom in innovative ways to engage and educate! You didn’t let us down…what a great collections of nominees! If you know of someone who is using technology in innovative and effective ways in the classroom -PLEASE NOMINATE THEM!!! The nominee must be a classroom teacher using technology (you can nominate for outstanding blogs, wikis, nings, and websites too!) and you cannot nominate yourself. Please help us to recognize those who are going above and BEYOND!!!

Name	Campus	Subject/Grade	Reason
Carol Wilborn	Kerr	LA/7	Mrs. Wilborn took the initiative to learn podcasting with her class and used it with her middle school English classes. Way to jump in there!
Kristen Mize	Kerr	Science/7	Mrs. Mize is using podcasting with her science class to introduce them to science concepts. The kids love it and Mrs. Mize learned quickly so that she could provide support for her students. Way to integrate technology and learn new skills!
Julie Vu	BHS	English/10 & 12	Mrs. Vu has introduced the concept of digital storytelling to her classes and encouraged them to use technology to help turn their stories, poetry, and plays they\’ve read into multimedia experiences for their audiences. Awesome!
Chris Hill	BHS	Math/9	Chris is using a new program purchased by CAI called Apangea with his students. Chris is actively monitoring and supporting the use of the program and the students as they learn math with this innovative online support.
Allison Lounsbury	Kerr	Science/6	Allison’s use of the Kerr library SMARTBoard to teach her students about cells was amazing. The students were engaged, she had 100% participation, and the students loved it! Allison\’s ability to tweak her lesson to cover small technical difficulties and issues with behavior management that come with introducing new technology in the classroom led to an amazing lesson and kids who were having a GREAT time learning about science. Bravo! and Ms. Lounsbury attended the Smart Board training and the very next day was creating an innovative and amazing lesson for her students and demonstrated how the board works to a room full of her peers. Ms. Lounsbury\’s students were extremly engaged with the lesson and talked about it for days. They can not wait for their next Smart Board lesson. and She just learned Smartboard and is already using it!!!!! and Allison has worked really hard at using the SMARTboard to engage her students. She has a contagious enthusiasm when it comes to new technology. Her students come away with her positive attitude. She makes the most of this hands on experience! and She has learned how to use the SmartBoard and used it for her classes. She also allowed the entire school to come watch as she used it with her students for the 1st time.
Derrick Bailey	Kerr	SS/8	Mr. Bailey jumped in with both feet after SMARTBoard training and used the interactive white board the very next day while reviewing his 8th Graders on their most recent unit. Way to go! and Using the SMART board to increase student learning!
Mike Levy	Kerr	Science/7	Mr. Levy has done a fabulous job of integrating technology into his classes by encouraging his students to use databases rather than mere search engines in their scientific research. Through his efforts, students are learning how to gather and evaluate the information that is most relevant to their research topics.
Patti Bradley	Hughes	SS/6	Constant use of technology in the classroom. Many student projects revolve around technology. Use of the Presentation Station and CPS units on a weekly basis in the classtoom. Two students\’ podcasts competed and placed in a recent statewide competition. and Patti uses a computer projector nearly every day to show power points to her students

March TUT Award Nominees!

Kim Estes — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:07:42 +0000

Name	Campus	Subject/Grade	Reason
Eunice Harmon	Norwood	Science/3	Eunice has really stepped up the amount of technology she is integrating into her curriculum. She has a great blog that her students love to visit, she\’s using digital cameras and photostory to illustrate and narrate her students\’ writing, and she\’s spreading this excitement to other teachers who are anxious to try the cool things she\’s doing. Great Job!
Happy Modisette	Frazier	LA/4	The NOVA5000 \”Text Maker Program\” and digital cameras were used to give her 4th graders a change of pace for a writing and picture project. Her 4th graders used the NOVAS and the \”roll up\” keyboards to write an \”About Me\” paper. She used digital cameras to teach them some camera basics and as an added feature to the \”About Me\” project. Ms. Modisette has had the \”About Me\” page printed, from the NOVA work, and she\’ll couple their written work with a picture of themselves to be displayed for Open House this Thursday.

December/January TUT Award Nominees!

Kim Estes — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:00:30 +0000

Due to Christmas Break, we combine the TUT Awards for the months of December and January.

Name	Campus	Subject/Grade	Reason
Abbey Stodghill	Academy	All/1	Ms. Stodghill’s 1st grade class created a Comic Life book regarding the question “Where should Santa’s reindeer live Texas or The North Pole?” Using the Mac iphoto each student took their picture and wrote a caption on where Santa’s reindeer should live. The Comic Life pages were then copied and bound into a book for the class to share.
Cathy Maier	Frazier	All/3	Cathy is allowing another teacher at Frazier to use her presentation station on specific days. Camaraderie!!
Eunice Harman	Norwood	All/3	use of websites and lessons taught to students using the websites and teaching teachers the sites
Robin Combs	Kerr	Math/6	Robin is for sure our technology person in the 6th grade building. She is always coming up with exciting programs, activities, and games for the students to do using technology. She is also very willing to help us teachers. Any time there is a question in our building, we call on Robin, and she is so patient and willing to help.
Crystal Thom	Kerr	Science/6	Crystal Thom constantly is using technology in her room. She is an amazing teacher who knows how to move with the times. She uses her document camera and projector daily to show the kids color pictures to grasp their excitement in the subject areas. In addition, she utilizes her projector to show united streaming video clips to reinforce difficult concepts. Mrs. Thom is a fine teacher and deserves to be recognized. She also has an amazing website for students and parents.
Wendee Neubauer	Mound	Math & Science/4	Wendee uses lots of technology to enhance her teaching. She uses the document camera, a projector, an interwrite board, etc. She searches for videos on United Streaming to enhance her students’ learning. She sets a good example for other teachers on the team in using technology.
Robin Reed	Hughes	Social Studies/6	Robin had a project of Eruope and gave the students an opportunity to dress up. She used her digital camera to take pictures of them.
Angie Hamm	Mound	Reading & Science/3	Angie has a natural ability to create daily, weekly, assessment, and extension activities on the computer. She is constantly searching for ways to use technology in the classroom THEN she shares with her teammates. Yea, lucky me!and Angie Hamm is constantly making powerpoints for us to use on our projectors and document cameras, she has made an inference, cause and effect,fact and opinion,among others.This helps our students learn skills in a fun way and really keeps their attention.

November TUT Nominees

Kim Estes — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:41:21 +0000

We asked for help in recoginizing those teachers who really used technology in the classroom in innovative ways to engage and educate! You didn’t let us down…what a great collections of nominees! If you know of someone who is using technology in innovative and effective ways in the classroom -PLEASE NOMINATE THEM!!! The nominee must be a classroom teacher using technology (you can nominate for outstanding blogs, wikis, nings, and websites too!) and you cannot nominate yourself. Please help us to recognize those who are going above and BEYOND!!!

Name	Campus	Subject/Grade	Reason
Lana Cardenas	Academy	Spanish/K-5	Mrs. Cardenas uses her Mac computer to enhance student engagement and learning. At the beginning of the year she used I Photo to take a picture of every child. Then they used the speech bubble to write their name, grade, teacher, and team in Spanish. Those are displayed on the wall of the classroom. She videoed teachers using facial expressions and Spanish phrases to describe feelings and emotions. She used this as a teaching tool to present this info to the students. Now students are videoing themselves sharing their Spanish and personal information. She shows the \”movies\” to the class when students have completed the assignment to model correct pronunciation and display student learning. The whole student body benefits. And As a teacher of kindergarten through 5th grade Spanish students Mrs. Cardenas continually utilizes our new iMac computers to enhance their learning experiences . For some groups, she films examples and creates dvd’s to help students practice their skills. She also allows students to take pictures of themselves and use them to learn Spanish vocabulary…5th grade classes create and film commercials in Spanish that are collected on a dvd to distribute to all 5th grade students, also. Mrs. Cardenas truly deserves this award because she uses technology in all areas of instruction in exciting, engaging, and innovative ways.
Robin Combs	Kerr	Math/6	Robin is constantly searching out ways to use video streaming and different computer web sites not just in her classroom, but she shares her found resources with the other math teachers. Robin is also our "go to" girl when any of us in sixth grade need a little extra support when using technology in our classrooms.
Mary Tune	Frazier	Math & Science/K-5	Mary’s use of the digital cameras she won to engage students in content-based projects is impressive. The students are learning AND having fun.
Jeanette Douglass	Kerr	SS/6	Ms. Douglas excels at using United Streaming clips to bring alive topics students are studying in Social Studies. In a class where learning about world cultures is the focus, it is imperative to have relevant, engaging information about the regions being studied. Ms. Douglas enables her students to experience the world using technology and is a master at challenging them to become aware of current world issues.
Cathy Maeir	Frazier	Math/3	Using her presentation station for math problem solving and Unitedstreaming video showing.
Happy Modisette	Frazier	Math/4	Using her presentation station in math problem solving strategies.
Tracy Arriola	Frazier	Math & Science/5	Using her presentation station in math problem solving and science.
Amanda Stowe	BHS	English/9	Amanda often utilizes technology in her classroom. She continually creates and/or shows PowerPoint slide shows as a visual to accompany new literary terms. In addition, she has located and shown short clips of literary selections such as Vincent Price narrating Poe and other sorts of clips. Amanda seems to keep things interesting for her students and shares what she finds with the other English I teachers.
Chris Hill	BHS	Applied Math/9	Mr. Hill has a fantastic blog site at http://bisdblogs.net/communities/chill that he uses to help teach his students math. The students have logged over 200 comments to the blog and are going strong! What a great way to engage students and use technology in math!

October TUT Award Nominees

Kim Estes — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:36:56 +0000

Name	Campus	Subject/Grade	Reason
Carrie Zachry	Kerr	TX History/7	She is always using the internet to teach from and daily teaches students how technology is changing our lives. Her students look forward to daily current history technology lesson. She works HARD to stay in the mainstream of techno-knowledge.
Tracy Arriola	Frazier	Science & math/5	1)Using document camera for science and math classes. 2)Great website! She has her classes visit and use areas on her website all the time!
Linda Terry	Stribling	Music/5	When a visitor first walks into Linda Terry’s Music Room, their first glance at the surroundings might make them think that they took a wrong turn, and wound up in the school’s Computer Lab instead. With her students actively engaged at the eleven computer terminals lining the classroom, Linda is teaching from an interactive “Smart board” - a sort of “computerized blackboard.” But a second look confirms that the visitor is, indeed, in a music classroom. Musical instruments and music posters also line the walls, including the 7-unit Piano Lab at one end of the room; many of the computers are connected to piano keyboards and microphones, and the students are all working on music educational programs at their computers. So, what’s that all about? Linda is a firm believer that technology is the “way of the future” in music and is actively pursuring the use of that technology - teaching her students not only about the fundamentals of music - melody, rhythm, temp, etc - but also how to use computers to produce their own original music. She incorporates programs such as “Photo Story”, letting her students create story lines with musical backgrounds, to combine Music with their other core subjects, especially Writing. In doing so, she is collecting data on her students\’ TEKS scores, which will be used in a research study on the effectiveness of using music to improve writing and language skills. Linda was awarded a grant from “Making it Happen Foundation” last year. With the funds from the grant she was able to purchase the “Smart Board” and additional computers. The amount of her own time she puts into the music program and implementing technology into it is unbelievable. I strongly recommend her for this award.
Joe McGee	BHS	Music/9-12	Mr. Joe McGee is leading all BHS and Middle School Directors in using SMART MUSIC. This is an inter-active software program that allows directors to assign work for students and in-turn, the student has one-on-one interaction with the program to practice, record and submit their work all on-line. Through the band web-site, students can purchase their subscription for $25 per year. The subscription allows the student to practice, record, and get feedback on their practice all in the comfort of their own home. It’s like having a private instructor and recording studio right at your fingertips. This is cutting-edge technology used in and out of the classroom. Students who may not have access at home can use the student computers in the campus lab (located in the ensemble room). Please ask Mr. McGee for more details. VERY EXCITING
Patti Bradley	Hughes	Social Studies/6	Patti has been doing a wonderful job with her new presentation station. She uses it daily and it helps the students a lot with understanding material that they have covered. For ex: she shows them slide shows and can go to websites that give educational information on what they are studying.ANDConstant use of computer lab to enrich and enhance study of different countries and cultures. Also uses the document camera and in-focus regularly to expose students to newer information. AND Patti used her presentation station and the online site SlideShare.net to create an interactive lesson on Canada for her students.
Delani Lemons	Norwood	Elementary/2	Delani started a blog for all of 2nd grade and will ask kids questions of concern for what we are covering at the time. My kids love it and we get some really neat answers and the kids use the computers!
Sarah Orr	Kerr	ELA/8	Mrs. Orr is the only person who got into the presentation station class this summer, and she has wasted no time in putting it to good use in her class. She complements her existing lessons with extra information and resources by using the document camera and the projector to add visual images to the literature the kids are reading.
Amy Money	Kerr	Library/6-8	Mrs. Money has embraced technology. She has a great, updated website, and active blog, and she has created a Ning for the kids to join.AND It is Mrs. Money’s first year with Kerr, and she has really embraced our technology. She is using the BISD blog, Ning, her webpage and all sorts of other technology to reach kids and get them excited about what the Kerr Library has to offer.
Stephanie Johnson	BHS	ESOL/English I LEP	Steffanie has used numerous power points, Rosetta Stone, and ELLIS continually in all of her ESOL classes. The students are actively engaged during her lessons, and they also get the opportunity to show their skills on the computer afterwards.
Anita Bergen	Kerr	Band/8	Mrs.Bergen and Mrs.Gipson the band directors at Kerr have incorporated technology and band. They have a program called “SmartMusic” loaded on 6 student computers that are each in it’s own private room. They have their students play their music and the program tells them if they missed any notes, if they are off rhythm, etc. All of their UIL music is on there and they can add other music if they wish. Any info goes to the teacher and she can grade them on how well they did. It’s really cool!!! Way to go ladies =)
Angela Gipson	Kerr	Band/8	Mrs.Bergen and Mrs.Gipson the band directors at Kerr have incorporated technology and band. They have a program called “SmartMusic” loaded on 6 student computers that are each in it’s own private room. They have their students play their music and the program tells them if they missed any notes, if they are off rhythm, etc. All of their UIL music is on there and they can add other music if they wish. Any info goes to the teacher and she can grade them on how well they did. It’s really cool!!! Way to go ladies =)
Tammy Levy	Kerr	Math/7	Mrs. Levy has won the first ever Kerr Teacher Website of the Week! She maintains a great, user-friendly website that is always up-to-date.

September TUT Nominees

Kim Estes — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:13:18 +0000

We had a nice number of nominations for September, but we would love to see more! If you know of someone who is using technology in innovative and effective ways in the classroom -PLEASE NOMINATE THEM!!! The nominee must be a classroom teacher using technology (you can nominate for outstanding blogs, wikis, nings, and websites too!) and you cannot nominate yourself. Please help us to recognize those who are going above and BEYOND!!!

Name	Campus	Subject/Grade	Reason
Tamm Levy	Kerr	Math/7	Mrs. Levy has won the first ever Kerr Teacher Website of the Week! She maintains a great, user-friendly website that is always up-to-date.
Kourtney Johnston	Kerr	English & Digital Media/8	Using digital cameras and photostory, Mrs. Johnston’s students created public service announcements for internet safety.
Mary Lou Carter	Hughes	Science/8	Mary and her 8th grade PLC are using digital cameras and photostory to document and narrate labs done in their classes so that students can view the instructions if they’re absent or as an enhancement of the lesson.
Misty Spies	Hughes	Science/8	Misty and her 8th grade PLC are using digital cameras and photostory to document and narrate labs done in their classes so that students can view the instructions if they’re absent or as an enhancement of the lesson.
Dana Loofbourrow	Hughes	Science/8	Dana’s website is wonderfully set up with lots of helpful information for students and parents. I am addicted to her weekly lab - Will it Float? She uses digital photography and her site to teach students about the different properties of everyday items, asking them to make predictions and problem solve to explain results. It’s a great idea and a must-see site. Visit it at http://fc.burlesonisd.net/~dloofbourrow
Crystal Thom	Kerr	Science/8	Crystal has created a fantastic class website with lots of helpful information for her students and parents.
Jana Hoover	BHS	Algebra 1 & Keyboarding/9	Jana worked her tail off to include Algebra and find new resources for the kiddos to use!
Marsha Glenn	BHS	English 2 & 4	Marsha integrated digital photography into her lesson on literary terms and plot, as well as the epic hero.
Terri Guhl	BHS	Geography/9	Terri successfully integrated digital photography into her 9th grade Geography class
Rebekah Hinkle	Norwood	TAG/3-5	Awesome Web Site. Informative site for students and parents.
Jana Hoover	BHS	Algebra 1 & Keyboarding/9	Jana has created a multi-media environment for her Algebra 1 students that includes podcasts, ipods, agile mind, direct instruction and more to rotate the kids through instruction and enrichment activities. It’s a fresh, innovative way to teach math and deserving of recognition.
Jessica Wood	BHS	Art/9-12	Jessica is using the blogging feature of her First Class website to post student work every week. This is a fantastic way to showcase student progress and allow parents and staff to appreciate the artistry of our students. It can be seen at http://fc.burlesonisd.net/~jwood