NEWARK – School system officials honored innovative educators with a special luncheon this week.
On Wednesday the recipients of the Worcester County Board of Education’s Celebrating Innovation Awards were recognized at a luncheon at Worcester Technical High School.
“Your investment in the improvement of our classrooms, your schools and ultimately the school system is commendable and should be celebrated,” Superintendent Lou Taylor said.
Educators honored at the luncheon were recognized for implementing innovative practices that resulted in evidence based improvement in their schools. Teachers, administrators and even teams of teachers submitted applications outlining the processes they’d created at their schools. Taylor said a review team read each application and rated it with a rubric that took into account creativity, feasibility, utility and efficiency. In all 16 awards were presented Wednesday.
Taylor praised all of the honorees for their efforts.
“Thank you for leading with excellence through your innovative practice or process, through your personal commitment to improvement,” he said. “I am excited to recognize your scope of work today.”
Nearly half of the honorees were teachers from Worcester Technical High School. Tom Hamill, the school’s curriculum resource teacher, was honored for implementing a data dashboard for teachers to improve programs. Julia Hill, a math teacher at the high school, was recognized for using an app to send communications to her students outside the classroom. Michael Levy, the school’s criminal justice and forensic science teacher, received an award for partnering with the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department to host a forensic science ballistics lab range day.
Tracy Lewis, Worcester Tech’s HVAC instructor, received recognition for using the platform Kahoot! to engage students. AP Physics instructor Aarti Sangwan was recognized for enlisting her students to help with a comprehensive curriculum review. Rick Stephens, the school’s welding and computer integrated manufacturing teacher, was honored for incorporating SkillsUSA into a capstone project. Valerie Zienty, a pre-engineering teacher at Worcester Tech, was recognized for creating a classroom system that encouraged online discussion.
Other award winners included Elizabeth Atwood of Cedar Chapel Special School, Brian Cook of Pocomoke Middle School, Jennifer Beach of Pocomoke Middle School, Ryan Cowder of Stephen Decatur High School and Brittany Tignor of Snow Hill Middle School.
Team award winners were Regina Dashiell and the eighth grade math team of Pocomoke Middle School, Trevor Hill and Sandy Friedman of Stephen Decatur Middle School, Jessica Fry and the second grade team at Buckingham Elementary School and Angelique Hunter and the sixth grade math team from Snow Hill Middle School.
Though Julia Hill, who in addition to being an award winner is also the county’s teacher of the year, was not present, she congratulated honorees in a video address. She praised the new practices they’d implemented and encouraged them to share their success with fellow teachers.
“When we learn from each other we all grow,” she said. “When we grow our students benefit.”
