Luetkenhaus and Wade win grant
May 5, 2010
Wentzville
Julia Luetkenhaus and Stacey Wade, teachers at Frontier Middle School, have been awarded a $15,000 Excellence in Teaching Gold Star Grant by Emerson Electric Company.
Each teacher will receive $5,000 for classroom technology, as well as a $5,000 grant for the school. In the grant application, Luetkenhaus and Wade proposed transforming their classrooms into centers where curricular skills are introduced, practiced and assessed with the influence of cutting-edge technology.
In both math and science classes, teachers and students will interact through the computer to work collaboratively as they practice skills and share with others to assess their own learning and progress.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for kids to see real world math and science come to life in the classroom,” said Luetkenhaus. It’s very exciting, because it will help students think like scientists and mathematicians.”
Graphing calculators will allow math students the opportunity to immediately apply new skills and to see relationships between different contexts and mathematical concepts. In science classes, students will be performing experiments involving motion, temperature, distance, velocity and acceleration. The results of these experiments can be funneled through the graphing calculators which will help students analyze their data. Data can then be sent to computers where students will be able to manipulate the data and create ways to share their results.
“We’ve been talking about how to best utilize the graphing calculators, and with this grant FMS will be able to do more than talk, we’ll be able to have total integration of the technology,” said Principal Phil Ragusky.
The Emerson Excellence in Teaching Awards Program, sponsored by Emerson, annually recognizes more than 100 teachers—from kindergarten to college professors—who are examples of excellence in the field of education in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Eligibility to apply and be considered is limited to classroom teachers who are current or past recipients of the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award from 2004-2009. Individual teachers or teacher teams may apply.
Julia Luetkenhaus is a past winner of the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award.
From the Wentzville School District.
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