DO IT TEACHER OF THE MONTH

April 2006 - Debbie Whitehead

Debbie Whitehead, our school K-6 resource teacher, has earned the title of "DO IT Teacher of the Month" for her useof technology for administrative tasks as well as use of technology in her instruction and in student learning.  Ms. Whitehad will receive a Staples gift certificate.

Like most teachers, Debbie Whitehead uses technology for everyday administrative tasks.  The Star Grading Portal is used to input grades.  Easy IEP is an online program that she uses to create individual educational programs for her students.  She uses the Internet for communication with faculty, parents, and students.  She also uses Office 2003, her printer, and PhoneMaster to maintain her voice mailbox.

Ms. Whitehead uses technology for student projects in her classroom.  She is presently involved in having her students create a MovieMaker presentation for kindergarten orientation.  First, her students used the digital camera to capture still images and video footage; and then they edited their pictures using Kodak EasyShare software.  Students used Word to create scripts used in interviews of school personnel and the narration for their movie.  They then printed their scripts.  During the next week or two, they will be adding music and sound clips to their movie as well as making transitions and adding credits.  They will do this using the wireless lab.

Throughout the school year, students are scheduled to use Academy of Reading at least three times a week.  Ms. Whitehead also encourages her students to read books on their level and take Accelerated Reader tests daily.

Students used the Internet (Net Trekker) to research how to write a business letter.  Her students in grades 3-6 are also using Gaggle to safely chat and send emails. They also go to the Powerproofing site to proofread various passages and correct them, sometimes with assistance. 

Congratulations, Mrs. Whitehead!  Your students will always remember being producers of the kindergarten orientation movie.
 

March 2006 - Melanie Williams

Melanie Williams, an Intel Master Teacher and our school's librarian, has earned the title of "DO IT Teacher of the Month" for her creative uses of technology.  Even though Mrs. Williams is not a classroom teacher, she enriches the library experience for all students by using technology in many ways.

Each day, she and her students use the Spectrum automated library system to catalog and check out books.  Students and teachers can access the data base from any classroom computer that has the client loaded on it.  She administrates the Accelerated Reader program, and she is able to regularly monitor students' reading.  Students are allowed to take AR tests while in the library; in fact, students and parents were able to read together and take AR tests during Family Reading Night held during March. 

As a co-planner for Read Across America Day, Mrs. Williams used technology to notify teachers and students of the scheduled activities, had digital pictures taken of students in the character parade, and used Publisher to create thank you notes for each of the guest readers.

Like most teachers, Mrs. Williams used printers for various tasks throughout the month.  She used Word to create documents and Composer to create a technology worklog webpage.  She used PowerPoint to create presentations to share with her students using a wireless mouse to control the presentation displayed on a large screen television.  First grade students got to watch a video played through the VCR.  She activiated her voice mailbox using PhoneMaster.

The Internet also played an important  role during the month.  Mrs. Williams uses email daily to correspond with her colleagues, uses NetTrekker as a lesson planning aid, and helps students use the Internet for research.

As the Technology Support Person for DeBusk, Mrs. Williams has also helps teachers to use the grading portal and works to keep the school's technology up and running.  As a teacher for the Grades 3-5 After School Computer Class, Mrs. Williams has been teaching her students to use digital cameras and camcorders, to use Kodak software to edit pictures, and to use MovieMaker to create a digital tour of our school.

Congratulations, Mrs. Williams. 

February 2006 - Carol Adams

Carol Adams, an Intel Master Teacher, one of our school's Technology Mentor Teachers, and a mentor for a Tusculum College student teacher,  has earned the title of "DO IT Teacher of the Month" for the second time this school year.  Whenever you go into her room, you see Carol and her students using technology. 

Mrs. Adams regularly uses her CPS to give students immediate feedback while doing SPI reviews in reading.  She also used it to determine students' reading comprehension of trade books they are reading.  Students sometimes put answers in as student managed, and sometimes Mrs. Adams manages the responses especially if she wants the students to see what they are getting right or missing immediately.  Students also take their weekly spelling tests using the CPS.

Students used the InterWrite Student Pads to draw various geometric figures, to work fraction problems, and to review concepts such as supplementary and complementary angles.  Prior to students using the pads, Mrs. Adams uses one to teach and review.

The wireless lab has seen much use this past month.  Two webquests were done in reading class.  One was done to find out information about Anne Frank and her family.  Another one was done where students went to a particular web site and read about the history behind the book Number the Stars to determine if a statement was a fact or an opinion.  Students also used the wireless laptops to work on their "Picture Dictionaries" for their trade books. (Students printed their dictionary pages and also the answers to the Webquests while Mrs. Adams has printed information she got from netTrekker to help her with future trade book units.)  In math class one day, the students went to http://rainforestmaths.com site learn about three dimensional figures.  They went through several activities and really enjoyed the learning experience. 

Word was used as the main program to create picture dictionaries and trade books.  Students looked up definitions of their group's words, wrote the word in a good sentence, and wrote the definition in a Word document.  They searched for a picture to illustrate the word, and pasted it into the document.  Word was also used to do the Anne Frank Webquest.  Students went to a particular site that had questions about Anne, her family, and other related questions.  Students looked up the answers on the appropriate linked sites, copied and pasted the question along with the answer into a Word document.  They became quite good at using the Alt-Tab buttons to toggle between screens.

As students work, Mrs. Adams uses the classroom digital camera to take pictures of them working on projects.  After downloading the pictures, they were shown as a screensaver slideshow.  As a culminating activity for the Holocaust unit, the students watched the DVD, The Devil's Arithmentic, a movie about the Holocaust.  Using the projector instead of the TV gave a much larger image and, therefore, much more effective.

Mrs. Adams, like all teachers, uses the Star Grading Portal to report and calculate students grades.

Mrs. Adams uses her overhead projector daily.  Math lessons (new vocabulary, example problems, review problems) are presented.  Students solved or explained some problems using it also.  Answers to "yesterday's" assignments are always put on the overhead for students to grade their own homework papers.

The Internet is used in many ways.  Besides using email for her own communcation, Mrs. Adams's students have started emailing each other using their GaggleTn.com accounts.  Students also like to chat.  As mentioned before, students use rainforestmaths.com to help them understand math concepts that are difficult to explain or pactice using conventional methods.  Mrs. Adams especially liked to use the search engine, Nettrekker to find webquests and other information about the books that they have read in class or plan to read before school is out: A Wrinkle in Time, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Giver, and Number the Stars.  After reading books, students use the Accelerated Reader software to take comprehension tests.

Congratulations, Mrs. Adams.  Your students and you are benefiting from seemlessly using technology as an everyday tool for learning, instruction, and administrative tasks.

January 2006 - Amy Luttrell

Amy Luttrell, an Intel Master Teacher and one of our school's Technology Mentor Teachers, has earned the title of "DO IT Teacher of the Month" for the second time this school year.  As you read all of the ways she and her students use technology, you will easily see why she deserves this honor a second time.  Technology has truly become a tool for teaching, learning, and performing administrative tasks.

Her students take many of their quizzes using the CPS.  Sometimes the questions are on the screen, sometimes the tests are teacher directed, and sometimes the students take their quizzes using the student management option making it possible for each student to work at his/her own speed.

The studends used the InterWrite Student Pads to circle the three-letter blends in reading.  They have used them to show the other students how to do their word problems.  Amy has used the Student Pad during her instruction of cursive handwriting to show the students what to do and what not to do.  She also used them to help teach geometry by utilizing the graphics of right angles, acute angles, obtuse angles, squares, circle, rectangle, ray, line, line segment, point, and right triangles.  Afterwards, the students had to identify the graphics.

To help students see a quality example of their spelling words written in cursive, Mrs. Luttrell writes the words on cursive writing paper, has them scanned, and projects the image from the computer onto the screen through her projector.  The kids think this is AWESOME!

During the week's activities about ice cream, the class used Excel to create graphs to display the information about their favorite flavors of ice cream after watching a lesson on the TV demonstrating the steps in creating a graph.  Students printed the graphs using the classroom printer; they also printed the pictures they created using KidPix.

Mrs. Luttrell uses her overhead projector each day to do the "Daily Word Problems" and their "Spiral Review" in math.  Students were also able to demonstrate flip, slide, turn, congruent, and similar using manipulatives.

Word is used in conjunction with activities from EnchantedLearning.com.  Students also use Word to type definitions of reading vocabulary words on the classroom laptop; the definition is then projected onto the screen so classmates can decide if it is correct.    Kidspiration has been used to categorize faces of solid shapes, create pictures for a math activity.  Students also use Knowledge Works to review math skills covered in class.  Accelerated Reader is used daily by the students for reading comprehension.  The students use Type to Learn three times a week to help with accuracy when typing.  They have also been using KidPix to create pictures for a descriptive writing activity in language arts.

The Internet has also become a tool that Mrs. Luttrell uses regularly.  She used the United Streaming video, "Sam and Lucky Money" (a story in the reading book for this month) to embellish the skill instruction.  Students used Enchanted Learning, Little Explorers Dictionary, and Mighty Books for activities in the computer lab.  In addition to using the Internet for the students, Mrs. Luttrell uses the Internet to communicate with many parents via email.  She also uses the Star Grading Portal for her grade book. 

Since there is a Smart Board in the computer lab, Mrs. Luttrell has become more comfortable with using it in teaching.  In fact, she has used it for several activities this month.  Her comment, "It is becoming easier every time I use it" should be encouraging or maybe even motivating to other teachers.  You, too, can  use the Smart Board; it does get easier!

Congratulations again!  Your students will be the "techies" of the future. 

December 2005 - Christy Hoeke

Christy Hoeke, an Intel Master Teacher and one of our school's Technology Mentor Teachers, has earned the title of "DO IT Teacher of the Month".  Not only does she challenge the students in the after-school computer 6-8 enrichment program, she also uses technology in her daily planning, teaching, and record keeping. 

Christy is shown here with one of her after-school computer class students as they show the video, "DeBusk's Funniest Christmas Video" which was created and edited by her students using the digital camcorder and XP's Moviemaker.  Students and parents enjoyed the teachers being startled as they opened a booby-trapped Christmas present. Mrs. Hoeke's 7th and 8th grade students also used technology in many ways as a tool for learning.  After they conducted research on the Internet using the wireless laptops, her students composed papers for Benjamin Franklin essays and created brochures for her best practice.  Students used Word and Publisher to complete these tasks.  Since Mrs. Hoeke requires her students to read regularly, they use Accelerated Reader as part of their assigned reading curriculum.

To Christy, technology is an awesome tool for planning, teaching, and administrative tasks.  All of her planning is done in an Excel form she has created for that purpose.  She has sent notes to parents and created "coupons" for Christmas presents for her students.  She used PowerPoint to create title and credit slides, saved them as pictures, and then imported them into a video program.  She posts her assignments and grades using the Star Grading Portal.  Christy communicates with parents, staff, and others about school and technology.  She also burned CD's of the Christmas program to share with the after school computer class. She uses the classroom printer daily to print student work and information for parents.

As an Intel Master Teacher, Mrs. Hoeke conducted a 40-hour Intel Teach to the Future training for six teachers from Baileyton.  Her students created a unit plan for an essential question to be proposed to their students.  During the training, these teachers created sample student projects (PowerPoint, brochure or newsletter, and a webpage) that would answer the essential question.  Her students also developed resource materials and Internet sites to use in teaching their unit.  During the last class session, Christy burned CD's that contained all of the lessons that have been created by teachers taking this class.

Congratulations, Christy.  Your expertise in using technology is rubbing off on your students!

November 2005 - Amy Luttrell

Amy Luttrell, an Intel Master Teacher and one of our school's Technology Mentor Teachers, has been using technology daily to facilitate her administrative tasks, to make her teaching more exciting, and to give her students the opportunity to use it as a tool for learning.

Amy's students really enjoy using technology.  Since her students use the CPS to take weekly reading tests, end of unit math tests, and SPI assessments, Amy is able to use the reports to see who needs reteaching and who has mastered the skills.  Even her practicum students have learned to create assessments for the lessons they teach.  The InterWrite Student Pads have become an awesome tool in teaching language arts.  She types in sentences and has the students circle or underline subjects, predicates, simple subjects, simple predicates, prefixes, suffixes, and root words.  Amy also uses the student pads to interact with students while using the CPS and to have students demonstrate math operations skills.  The SmartBoard was used to practice using ordered pairs to sink the battleship.

The digital camera was used this month to take pictures of the students while they were creating their newsletters.  Her class is currently using the wireless lab to create the newsletter for their trip to Nathaneal Greene Museum.  The students are surfing the net and Nettrekker to find facts about Andrew Johnson, Davy Crockett, and Rev. Samuel Doak.  This has been a great learning experience for some of her students because this is the first time they have ever used laptops.  Many are navigating very well from Netscape to Publisher.  They have been using the networked printer to print important imformation on the famous people they are researching, so they can highlight and summarize the information for their newsletters.  Nettrekker is the main tool students have used to find everything they needed for their newsletters.  Students learned to copy and paste pictures from the Internet to their documents.  They were very surprised to see Greeneville, TN, in a Nettrekker search.  All of the students have been given a personal account, and some of them use Nettrekker at home which is wonderful!  When there were special holidays, Amy and her students used the Internet for activities.

Other sites on the Internet that Amy and her students use are MathStories.com (used on a weekly basis) and EnchantedLearning.com where students are able to use its Little Explorer and label me printouts.  Videos from United Steaming have been used several times this month to introduce or reinforce standards: Prefixes/Suffixes for L.A., States of Matter for science, and several fables and folk tales in reading. 

The students have worked with PowerPoint in the minilab.  Amy wanted to make sure the students could type their information in, change the font to the ones they like, and add all the fancy stuff that makes it more exciting for the kids. They are all able to do that now, so they are about ready to do a project using PowerPoint.  The students have also been using Publisher to complete a group project.  They know how to choose different forms, agree as a team, and go through and find the one they want to use to create their group's newsletter on three important people from Greene County.  Kidspiration is another program the students use, as Amy is incorporating writing into her math class and using graphic organizers to help with her focused assessment.  She says her students enjoy typing on the computer instead of writing on paper.

Networked software is also used in Mrs. Luttrell's class.  Knowledge Works is used as reinforecement for skills being taught, Accelerated Reader is used daily by many students trying to improve their reading comprehension skills, and Type to Learn is used once a week to improve their keyboarding abilities.

Bill Nye, the Science Guy, videos have been shown to the students - usually using the classroom TV.  The overhead projector is used to teach cursive writing and for the students to work on the "Problem of the Day." 

Emailing is also an important tool in Amy's classroom.  She has continuous communication with three parents, emailing them several times a week to keep the parents aware of behavior and assignments.  Amy is also receiving important information from many helpful teachers for her focused assessment.  Amy said, " It's comforting to know that I can email someone and get what I need right then."

Then, of course, there's the Star Grading Portal and the good old standby, Making the Grade.  Amy uses them both!

Congratulations, Amy.  Your use of technology is enriching your classroom in many ways.

October 2005 - Holly Goodrich


Holly Goodrich, Title 1 teacher, probably has an advantage over other teachers in using technology daily because she is the computer lab instructor for students in grades 4-8, teaches remedial reading for students in grades 1-3, and teaches an after-school class for students in grades K-3.  Even with this advantage, however, Holly goes above and beyond the call of duty and plans her lessons to use technology as a tool both for teaching and learning.

Holly is creative in her use of the technology.  She uses the SmartBoard, computer, and projector daily to show examples of what the students will be doing, to post the daily assignments, for writing words that her Title students need to practice, to show virtual field trips, United Streaming videos, and to model learning.  She takes pictures of her students as they work on different programs and activities and keeps them as her screen saver.

In the computer lab, students use Word to create their story starters, write name poetry, and complete many creative writing activities while Holly uses Word for everything - creating lesson plans, classroom management plans, letters to students, and lessons.  She often takes the Title laptop home to prepare ahead of time.  Besides using Word, her students use excel to create word searches for students in grades 1-3, graphs, and charts.  Some of her students also used PowerPoint to make literature presentations, and Holly created two webquests that she used during the month.  Publisher is used by her and her students to create flyers, menus, and brochures.  And, yes,  Holly uses Composer to update her webpage every day!

In addition to Microsoft Office, Holly and her students use many other programs.  Academy of Reading is used twice a week with her Title I students and students who need the extra instruction.  In the computer lab, Knowledge Works is used at least twice a month especially to review math skills.  Cornerstone Reading, Language Arts, and Math are used often.  Type to Learn 3 in used every Friday in the main lab.  Inspiration and Kidspiration are used to go along with her webhunts, and students use the bubble maps to talk about their findings on the hunts. Type to Learn Jr., KidPix Deluxe, Map Puzzles, Sebran, and Daisy Math are used with her after-school computer class; moreover, a few of these are used in the main lab when students finish an assignment.  Students especially enjoy "Picker" when they have extra time.

The Internet makes it possible for Holly and her students to broaden their teaching and learning opportunities.  Holly uses email to stay in touch with everyone - all the time; however, students are not allowed to use email at school according to School Board Policy.  Nettrekker is used when she needs to find something that she can be assured will relate to what she will be doing, and students use it to fine infromation for their classes.  MightyBook.com is used once a week and StarFall.com is used twice a month with her Title students.  She has used MathStories.com a few times in the main lab. 

Holly is also responsible for administering the ThinkLink Learning P.A.S.S., Star Reader Test, and Star Early Literacy Test. 

September 2005 - Myra Waddle


Myra Waddle, second grade teacher, uses technology daily to make learning exciting for her students and to make her own work easier.  Students regularly take their reading selection tests using the CPS while Myra uses the InterWrite Student Pad to regulate the program.  She and her students use the Student Pads during math instruction and learning. She and  her students also use the overhead to practice math problems.  Mrs. Waddle used the classroom digital camera to take pictures of her reading groups.  Weekly use of the television, DVD player, and VCR help enrich the curriculum.  Student used the wireless lab and Kidspiration for three days to complete a unit on money and then printed their creations.  The printer is used daily for newsletters, cards, grade reports, and worksheets with Mrs. Waddle using Word, Excel, and Publisher to complete her tasks.  She even used PowerPoint for introducing her butterfly unit.  Making the Grade is used daily to record grades and create student reports.

The Internet is an invaluable tool in the second grade classroom.  Mrs. Waddle even uses it herself for email students who are able to reply to her from home.  She has been using Nettrekker to look up activities for SPI's.  (At home, she uses the Internet for shopping!)  If you check out Mrs. Waddle's web page, you will see that she regularly updates a very informative and useful site. 

In the computer lab, students have been using Knowledge Works, Accelerated Reader, Type to Learn, Kidpix, Daisy Math, and Map Puzzles. 

August 2005 - Carol Adams


Carol Adams, sixth grade teacher and Intel Master Teacher and Technology Mentor Teacher, uses technology daily to enhance her teaching, to enrich her students' learning, and to make administrative tasks easier.

The "clickers" you see at the left are used each day as part of the math learning process.  Students answer questions about the new concept being taught, and Mrs. Adams can immediately tell if they really understand or if someone is having trouble.  The CPS was also used to take part of a test over similes and metapors.  Weekly spelling tests are also taken using this system.  In addition to using the CPS, her students used the two classroom InterWrite Student Pads in math to demonstrate their knowledge of the symbols for greater than, less than, and equal to.  Mrs. Adams used the InterWrite Student Pad by "capturing" literary forms from another document and having students highlight the parts that were onomatopieia, alliteration, and similes.  While waiting for the buses, students take turns using an online "patterns" site with the pad and drag pieces to make designs. 

Students used the wireless lab laptops and Word to type and illustrate their poems during a poetry unit.  Some students completed PowerPoint presentations about different elements of literature where they must define and illustrate each element.  They shared their presentations using the SmartBoard.  They printed their poetry so each student can have a book of poems they created.  They also printed their Elements of Literature to add to their notebooks.  As students typed their poetry, they watched the news coverage of Katrina the day it hit - multitasking just like a computer!

Mrs. Adams used the Internet for sending and receiving email to communicate with parents and teachers. Her students used it to find illustrations for their projects.  She uses our networked software by requiring students to read library books and take AR tests to get a total of at least six points this grading period.  When they go to the computer lab, they spend at least 30 minutes a week learning keyboarding skills with Type to learn.

Other uses of technology include daily use of the overhead projector to explain new math concepts and for students to check their calculations, Making the Grade to keep a running average of her students' scores, Word to create class lists, PowerPoint to help teach limericks, and the digital camera to take pictures of all of her students and using the pictures as a slide show screen saver on the laptop.  When the projector is on, students can see themselves on the board; and they love it!  They also love using technology as a tool for learning.

Updated 9-1-06

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