Three Highline Public School teachers are recipients of a $27,000 technology grant from the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology initiative. (l-r in photos) Tracy Drum/Bow Lake Elementary, Ann Magyar/New Start, and Marianne Shibly/Gregory Heights Elementary will each receive $9,000, which will cover a 10-session training program and its related costs, such as substitute teachers and new technology for their classrooms. When they return to their schools as peer coaches, they will work closely with fellow teachers to share their newly acquired skills and technology.
Marianne Shibly states, “Our world is constantly changing and new technologies emerge every day. Literacy instruction needs to include these new technologies. Peer coaching, with an emphasis on integrating technology as a tool for learning, is necessary to assist teachers to design technology-enhanced lessons that will help our students develop skills and strategies necessary to communicate and collaborate with others.”
“[As teachers,] we are always looking for ways to get more technology into our classrooms. Opportunities like this are the difference between educating our kids and educating them for the modern world,” comments grant recipient Ann Magyar.
"Peer coaches work with colleagues in their schools to incorporate digital technologies into teaching and learning – software, graphing calculators, interactive whiteboards, digital cameras, and more," said Dennis Small, director of educational technology at OSPI. “Together they identify ways to use this technology to strengthen curricula and improve academic achievement.”
Peer coaches also join an online professional network where they share new ideas, lessons, and experiences, and connect with teachers across the globe through Microsoft’s Innovative Teachers Network, www.innovativeteachers.com.
Highline’s grant recipients join more than 90 others from Washington. They were selected by a 16-person evaluation team of educators. The selection criteria included vision and goals, passion for educational technology and using it to help individual students, a plan on how to work with other teachers, and geographic location. The full list of grant recipients can be found at www.k12.wa.us/EdTech/eett08-awardees.aspx .
