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Awards
In 2002, the Education Foundation presented these awards to recognize
and reward best practices in the teaching of math and science in our
middle schools. Fifteen teachers who exemplify innovative teaching
and best practices in their classrooms were each awarded $1000. In
addition, one teacher received a $10,000 stipend to document, further
develop and package her teaching practices so that they can be disseminated
across the state.
Joann Blum, the 2002 winner of the Above and Beyond $10,000
stipend, is a seventh and eighth grade science at the Thomas Prince
School in Princeton. A nationally recognized teacher, who for the
last 10 years has been selected by National Honor Society inductees
as the teacher "who is making the most significant impact"
in her school career. In 2001 she received the Christa MacAuliffe
Fellowship award. Recently Joann teamed up with the Massachusetts
Audubon Society to develop The Princeton Nature Trail project, which
includes a nature trail, a natural history identification field guide,
radio tracking of turtles, and geographic information systems. Four
years ago transmitters were placed on three spotted turtles, and students
tracked their movements. Information they gathered has been forwarded
to the State Department of Environmental Management. Joann plans to
use her $1,000 award to purchase an updated receiver to continue tracking
of the turtles, two GPS units for her school, and a Saturday Turtle
Camp for interested students to get a more accurate count of our spotted
turtle population. With the $10,000 stipend, she will develop a field
guide to nature trails, and will create a CD and booklet about nature
trails that can be used in urban as well as rural areas.
Gina Andrade--a sixth grade math and science teacher at the
Morse Pond School in Falmouth. Gina regularly uses innovative technology
in her classroom and for the unique projects that she has created
including: a student investigation of the properties of water; the
causes and effects of oil spills in our environment; and an archaeological
dig in which students discover fossils, then map and graph their findings.
Kenneth Duffy--an eighth grade science teacher at the Parker
Middle School in Chelmsford. Ken has discovered many ways to integrate
technology into the science curriculum for his students. His involvement
with EarthKAM (EARTH Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students)
which is a joint venture with Mitre Corporation and TERC, the Technical
Education Research Center, exemplifies ways in which the use of technology
can enhance the curriculum and promote student learning.
Fred Erickson--an eighth-grade math teacher at the Searles
Middle School in Great Barrington. Fred's two primary goals are to
encourage students to think at a higher level and to teach them to
be responsible for their own learning. He tries to convey a sense
of excitement with a sequence of math essays that revolve around the
character "Klyde the Ape." Jane Furey, Searles principal,
says Erickson is "our MVP in the classroom."
Cathy Graham--a seventh grade math and science at the Cape
Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Orleans. Her principal Paul Niles
wrote of her "outstanding ability to design math lessons that
transform the teaching of key curricular concepts into 'learning events'.
Among the projects her class undertakes are the planning of a turkey
dinner for 20 at Thanksgiving. This is a multi-disciplinary hands-on
activity involving planning amounts from cookbook quantities, costing,
working in groups, spreadsheet use for analysis, (and hopefully eating
good food); In her "Build a Home" project, students address
the geometry, number sense and measurement frameworks by drafting
a blueprint of their house, choosing a building site, calculating
the cost of the home and trying to sell the home at a profit.
John King--6th, 7th and 8th grade science teacher at the Edith
N. Rogers Middle School in Lowell. To help students understand the
impact the human race is having on the environment, King created Project
Splash, which teaches the fundamentals of managing an aquaculture
system. With National Science Foundation funds, his school purchased
a mini fish farm, which will be used to raise species of fish native
to New England. Eventually, Project Splash will be an after-school
program and will be integrated throughout the school.
Charles Lindgren--an eighth grade science teacher at the Gates
Intermediate School in Scituate. He says that learning is best achieved
when students believe the material they're working with is real. For
example, the class uses actual images of the sun, monitoring the changes
in sunrise and sunset times in 60-plus cities and plotting the location
of the rising or setting sun from autumnal to vernal equinox in Scituate.
The web site he developed, "WeatherGate" is an award winning
interactive muiltimedia Internet project.
Diane Mason--a sixth grade science teacher at the JFK Middle
School in Hudson. For her, technology is at the core of the educational
experience. She is involved with the Intel Teach to the Future program
and is a teacher leader in the district's Critical Math and Science
Synergy NSF grant project. Last summer Mason developed a Web Quest
to be used with the sixth-grade Planetary Science Unit. The program
features simulations, data tracking and organizing that allow students
to experience the work of real scientists.
Charity Cochran-Murphy--a sixth grade science teacher at the
Martin Luther King Middle School in Boston. Charity incorporates social
studies, writing and research skills, math, art and physical education
into her science lessons. She holds an Invention Fair each year, giving
students an opportunity to apply their creativity to what they have
learned. Through Murphy's work, students who formerly shunned science
are "rediscovering" the subject.
Diane Perito--a seventh grade science teacher at the Beebe
School in Malden. Diane spent more than 10 years as a research scientist
before becoming a teacher. The magnet theme for the Beebe School is
"Environmental and Health Sciences", and she uses the local
environment as a vital tool for teaching these subjects. Students
test tap water from home, pond water, river water and ocean water.
They take walking field trips as well as other trips aboard Envirolab,
in Boston Harbor, using these sites as outdoor classrooms.
Warren Phillips--seventh grade science teacher, Plymouth Community
Intermediate School, in Plymouth. Throughout the year, Warren keeps
his seventh-grade students involved with real-world experimentation
by organizing units such as a pond study, a geological field trip
to the Blue Hills, a seashore project with a field trip to the Cape
Cod National Seashore, a whale watch, and several gardening experiments
using Gro-Lab.
Dr. Mette Schwartz--a seventh grade science teacher at Memorial
Middle School in Beverly. Prior to teaching she worked for several
years as an environmental regulator for the Massachusetts Department
of Environmental Protection. She is committed to developing and implementing
a Green Schools program within the Beverly Public School system. She
is currently developing hands-on materials for the school that will
educate students and teachers about green schools and renewable energy
topics.
Deirdre Scott--an eighth grade science teacher at the Fairview
Veterans Memorial Middle School in Chicopee. Many of the projects
in Scott's classroom are interdisciplinary. For one six-week project
combining math and science, her students design and build a scale
model of a nine-hole golf course. For a geology study, they take a
Virtual Field Trip in which they visit national parks around the country
to locate and describe specific rock types and geological features.
Myriam Ulloa-Skolnic--a sixth grade science teacher at the
Magnet Middle School for the Arts in Holyoke. Ever conscious of the
difficulties many of her students have to live with on a daily basis
- poverty and special learning needs to name just two, she strives
to motivate the students to see the numerous connections between science
and math and their lives. Last summer, she became a NASA teacher.
She has established a collaboration with the agency's "Living
with a Star" educational initiative. Eventually, she hopes to
include parents in related enrichment activities, such as field trips
and star watches.
Erica Voolich--a seventh grade math teacher at the Solomon
Schechter Day School in Newton. She has been described as "passionate
about teaching math, " and wants her students to become passionate
about math too. To grab her students' attention and keep them excited,
Voolich uses real-life connections such as decoding barcodes, and
reading stories that give the historical context about the people
involved as well as the ideas that they developed.
2001 Award Winners
Kathy Downey, Unified Media Specialist, James F. Sullivan Middle School,
Lowell
Diane Gilbert, English as a Second Language Teacher, Worcester Arts
Magnet School
James E. Millette, Jr., Video and Telecommunications Specialist, Blackstone
Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School
Kelly Rogers, Teacher, Grade 5, C.A. Farley Elementary, Hudson
Kathleen Schrock, District Technology Department Head, Dennis-Yarmouth
Regional School District
2000 Award Winners
Laraine Hawkins, Teacher, Franklin High School
Su. Henry, Teacher, Merriam School, Acton
Judith MacPherson, Teacher, Williams Elementary School, Pittsfield
Amy Castle Moon & Trisha McIsaac, Teachers, Hosmer Elementary
School, Watertown
Jon "Jack" Reyes, Volunteer, Holbrook Public Schools
1999 Award Winners
Sheldon Berman, Superintendent of Schools, Hudson Public Schools
Kathleen Dario, Volunteer, Huckleberry Hill School, Lynnfield
Maureen Henzel, Teacher, Hunnewell School, Wellesley
Jeannine Trigilio, Vice Principal and Teacher, West Memorial School,
Peabody
John Werner & Arnold Haan, Teacher & Volunteer, Citizen
Schools/Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Dorchester
1998 Award Winners
Albert Baggetta, English Teacher, Agawam High School
Nancy Ferguson, Teacher, Angier School, Newton
Eva Gibavic, Learning Disabilities and Technology Specialist, Hampshire
Educational Collaborative, Northampton
Viriato Goncalves, Teacher, Dearborn Middle School, Boston
Kathy Lind, Teacher, Burbank School, Belmont
Kathy Moss, Parent Volunteer, Rockport Elementary School
Leticia Pagan, Teacher, Bilingual Education, Collins Middle School,
Salem
Scott Salvidio, Digital Equipment Corporation, Volunteer, Shrewsbury
Public Schools
Michael Youmans, Teacher, Maimondes School, Brookline
Susan Zellmann-Rohrer, Parent Volunteer, Thoreau School, Concord
Special Achievement Awards
In addition to the Above and Beyond Awards, several Special Achievement
Awards have been presented to outstanding public officials who have
made particularly significant contributions in the effort to advance
the use of technology in Massachusetts schools.
In addition, several Special Achievement Awards have been presented
to outstanding public officials who have made particularly significant
contributions in the effort to advance the use of technology in
Massachusetts schools.
Jack Rennie, founder of Pacer Systems (now AverStar) and cofounder
of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education - 2001, Awarded
posthumously.
Beth Lowd, Coordinator, Business and Education for Schools and
Technology (BEST) -- 2000
Edward M. Kennedy, U.S. Senator -- 1999
Thomas M. Menino, Mayor of Boston -- October 1998
Steven Miller, Executive Director, Mass Networks Partnership, Inc.
-- January 1998
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