Five teachers from the U.S. were celebrated Saturday night as five of the most innovative educators in the world, as part of Microsoft Corp.’s annual Global Forum Educator Awards.
Following are the winning U.S. educators:
1st Place: Collaboration
Pauline Roberts and Rick Joseph; Birmingham Covington School (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)
Project: Doing Business in Birmingham
Doing Business in Birmingham aims to promote the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision-making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. After learning about sustainability in business, students took to the streets of downtown Birmingham to assess the sustainability of businesses in their local community. Armed with informational flyers and brochures they had created, the students visited more than 90 establishments to interview and educate local business owners. Students used Microsoft Office, Photosynth, Publisher and MovieMaker among other technologies to complete the project.
2nd Place: Cutting-Edge Use of Technology for Learning
Robin Lowell and Sherry Hahn; Washington State School for the Blind (Vancouver, Wash.)
Project: “LYNC”ing Distance Learning Math Classes to Blind and Visually Impaired Students
The Washington State School for the Blind developed an effective program built on Microsoft Lync that provides specialized mathematics instruction to blind and visually impaired students. The school’s teacher lives more than 100 miles away from the campus and uses videoconferencing and Lync to instruct her classes to any student with a Lync client and an Internet connection.
3rd Place: Educators’ Choice
Todd LaVogue; Roosevelt Community Middle School (West Palm Beach, Fla.)
Project: What’s Up Egypt?
Students created a TV show about ancient Egypt to gain a deeper understanding of life during that time. Students used Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and video editing software to research and create a “TODAY”-style news program with news, weather, sports, cooking, lifestyle, history and music segments. Students compared and contrasted ancient Egypt with today’s society and in the end they had a better understanding of what it would have been like to have lived during that time.
