Celebrating Educator Excellence with our First-Ever Discovery Schooling Award Recipients

McKenna Akane, Alberton College District, Montana

McKenna Akane designs classes which might be interactive, related, and significant by connecting classroom ideas to real-world purposes and experiences. Whether or not by means of discipline journeys, visitor audio system, or project-based studying actions, she helps college students see the sensible implications of what they’re studying, sparking their curiosity and engagement.

Mrs. Akane has developed a proposal for a Digital Actuality (VR) venture and curriculum that can actually revolutionize the best way college students throughout the nation be taught and work together with Montana’s Indigenous neighborhood. Working along with the College of Montana, Blackfoot Communications, and several other different native partnerships, she has developed a Ok-12 venture to offer significant Indian Schooling for All experiences. Using high-powered computer systems and 360-degree cameras, college students will attain out to Montana First Nations to report language, cultural traditions, ceremonies, and doc tribal historical past from totally different Nations. In partnership with a VR schooling firm, her college students will then create VR classes and excursions and add them to the corporate’s course choices the place different college students internationally will be capable of join and work together with Montana’s Indigenous Folks just about.

Frank Bogden, Loudoun County Public Faculties, Virginia 

Mr. Bodgen makes use of quite a lot of supplies, know-how, and sources to advertise the event of crucial pondering, downside fixing, and efficiency expertise in all college students. Mr. Bogden has gone from creating Genius Hours in his classroom to making a Makerspace full with LEGO bricks, Ozobots, Makey Makeys, and two 3-D Printers! He’s significantly pleased with how he mentioned and used inexperienced screens for a myriad of makes use of for college students. His classes have impressed college students to use varied greens screens to create tales, present summaries, and create studies on quite a lot of educational subjects. 

Mr. Bogden can also be credited with bringing laptop science and Discovery Schooling sources into each classroom within the faculty! There have been many lecturers who didn’t learn about Discovery Schooling and didn’t know their college students might full many laptop science tasks and ideas. The modern initiatives Mr. Bodgen has spearheaded present real-world connections, foster curiosity, and acknowledge the individuality of every scholar.

Rodney Crouse, Guilford County Faculties, North Carolina

Rodney Crouse captures moments to hook and depart college students on the sting of their seats when he’s instructing. He finds artistic and invigorating methods to take college students on an incredible studying journey. He infuses content material throughout all core topics to make studying time significant for all ranges of learners.

Mr. Crouse lately organized a digital discipline journey touring a neighborhood museum, the Greensboro Historical past Museum. He knew that college students might not be capable of see or really feel the artifacts and that it was necessary to get them as shut as doable. 

The nomination for Mr. Crouse defined, “He seems to be for brand new challenges and methods to evolve as an educator. It’s like he’s on a real-time mission and in search of the faculties/college students who want him, and he works with district curriculum employees to create items for instructor use. Whenever you watch him educate, he engages and connects with each learner within the course of. That’s how he writes items and plans classes—with college students on the middle of the training.”

Debbie Martin, Frederick County Public Faculties, Virginia 

Debbie Martin evokes different lecturers to make the most of sources, together with Discovery Schooling instruments, to permit college students to independently uncover, work collaboratively, and entry curriculum in a approach that helps them make sense of the world. Ms. Martin takes a vested curiosity in all she works with, each adults and college students, to make sure they’ve entry to the very best high quality tutorial help and sources.

Ms. Martin led the district to extend using Discovery Schooling as a significant and intentional useful resource that drives scholar studying, particularly in social research and science. Ms. Martin used her data of Discovery Schooling instruments, alongside together with her pleasure, to assist lecturers discover invaluable instruments to offer direct instruction, impartial discovery for college students, collaborative actions, and even leveled studying. 

As Ms. Martin wraps up her profession as an educator, her development is immeasurable. Her potential to educate lecturers in order that they’re driving their very own studying and discovery of sources is impeccable. Ms. Martin is aware of that everybody has totally different wants and continues to develop her methods and sources to assist others do the identical!

Rita Mortenson, Verona Space College District, Wisconsin

Rita Mortenson is a know-how coach who helps educators develop their capability to make use of know-how in equitable, artistic, and significant methods. She loves discovering artistic methods to nurture scholar curiosity and permit them to showcase their data authentically. 

Within the Verona Space College District, Ms. Mortenson has used Discovery Digital Area Journeys to pair highschool college students with varied grades for collaborative studying occasions. After watching the digital discipline journey, highschool college students and college students from totally different grades have interaction in actions that deepen understanding and create connections. For instance, after college students watched the Discovery Schooling/LEGO Digital Area Journey ‘Play to Study,’ college students from a neighboring elementary faculty got here to the highschool to work with a robotics class. That they had a chance to construct and play with LEGO bricks and robots.

When she first joined the Discovery Educator Community, Ms. Mortenson was an enthusiastic participant, and over time, she has developed as a frontrunner. She lately introduced on the DENSI Summer time 2023 Institute, the 2023 Fall Virtcon, the 2024 “24+ Methods to Use DE in 2024,” and has a proposal accepted at ISTE that can concentrate on DE Digital Area Journeys. Ms. Mortenson’s involvement with DE displays her dedication to her personal studying and her contributions to instructional know-how development in her neighborhood.