The NEA Foundation

Paul Payne, Los Angeles
9th to 12th Grade Mathematics Teacher
John Marshall High School
Partners: Christopher Denne, Julio Juarez, Susan Kaiser, Peter Shih

Mr. Payne and his partners organize a professional learning community of mathematics instructors to join their school’s ongoing professional development initiative. The learning community meets weekly to investigate student work, examine videos of instruction, and refine lesson plans and assessments. Working to develop students’ proficiency with small-group settings, participants also discuss their progress implementing a reform curriculum that relies on student investigations, experiential learning, and problem-solving embedded in realistic contexts.

To give students a deeper appreciation and understanding of the ancient world and how it was shaped by geology, Mr. Robertson travels to Egypt, Greece, and Rome to collect materials to enhance the social studies curriculum. Among other regional subjects, Mr. Robertson studies ancient Egyptian culture concerning an early Exodus theory that weaves the geology of Mount Thera with the histories of the Egyptians, Hebrew, Minoans, and Mycenaeans and he documents artifacts and geological evidence to compile a new curriculum. Expanding the influence of his research, Mr. Robertson distributes these new curriculum materials and provides in-service training on their use for teachers across the district.

Patrice Irby, Washington
Pre-Kindergarten to 6th Grade Physical Education Teacher
Bruce-Monroe Elementary School
Partners: Ramiro Acosta, Chandra Armstrong, Lillian Hernandez

Ms. Irby and her partners investigate how students’ backgrounds, cultures, and histories can serve as powerful curricular resources to master rigorous new language arts and mathematics learning standards. The team develops project-based instruction that uses culture to help students master relevant concepts. Teachers work with parents to pilot the new approaches in the classroom. To further engage families, the team implements family math and literacy nights to help parents understand learning expectations and to provide materials to reinforce classroom lessons at home.

Martha Finnegan, Lawrenceville
8th Grade Language Arts Teacher
Five Forks Middle School
Partners: Sherry Hart, Antoinette Hravatic

Recognizing that teachers in all subjects must collaborate to improve literacy skills, Ms. Finnegan, Ms. Hravatic, and Ms. Hart develop vertical teams of language arts and science teachers to refine curriculum and instruction. Language arts teachers from elementary through high school collaborate with science teachers to improve literacy skills by increasing technical reading and writing using high interest science materials and inquiry-based learning. The science vertical team, composed of teachers from grades three through eight, develops a continuum of academic skills and works to refine instruction and communication among teachers. To expand teachers’ content knowledge and increase student achievement, the vertical teams invite local universities and community science outreach programs to participate in their work.

Michael L. Whittier, Sutton
9th to 12th Grade Social Studies Teacher
Sutton Memorial High School
Partners: Tim Anderson, Richard Levansavich, Dennis Stamos, Ryan Wandyes

In anticipation of a new comprehensive state test in history and social sciences, Mr. Whittier and his partners engage in a study group to develop effective document based questions (DBQ) and a set of rubrics and exemplars related to those questions. Working with an Advanced Placement United States History trainer, the group learns to choose appropriate documents, construct effective questions, and develop students’ writing and critical thinking skills to answer the questions. Study group members compose a minimum of ten objective DBQs and two open-response DBQs for each unit of the curriculum and work throughout the year to refine the assessment rubric and identify high, middle, and low level exemplars. Upon completion of the project a database of DBQs with rubrics, exemplars, and study group data sets is created for history and social science educators across the district.

To improve her language arts instruction and increase differentiation, Ms. Briski studies the Four Block Framework, a program that helps to incorporate best practice methods into teaching writing, guided reading, self-selected reading, and phonemic awareness. Ms. Briski uses student data to analyze the effectiveness of her study on improving student learning and creates staff training sessions to share results and methods with her colleagues.

Margaret P. Aukshun, Billings
9th to 12th Grade Mathematics Teacher
Billings West High School
Partners: Tammy J. Erienbusch, Jodi Hillberry, Jamie Nixdorf, David R. Snow

Ms. Aukshun and her partners implement a professional learning community for colleagues in the mathematics department that focuses on formative assessment. The group examines how formative assessment informs instruction, develops rich and deep questioning techniques with students, and promotes validity and reliability in assessment tools. Group members share student work and reflect on instruction with mathematics teachers from the local elementary and middle schools.

Lori Hornfelt, Springfield
Kindergarten to 5th Grade Speech-Language Specialist
Maple Elementary School
Partners: Dawn Gossier, Susan Lanza, Ellen Leinbach, Denice Ward

Ms. Hornfelt and her partners participate in a study group of speech-language specialists from different elementary schools to investigate and implement literature-based interventions. The study group examines professional research about literature-based language intervention, ways to integrate interventions with classroom literacy curriculum, and students’ progress on their Individual Education Plan goals as a result of these interventions. Using student work, video clips, and role playing, participants present lessons to the study group to refine instructional strategies.

Therese M. Jilek, Glendale
Instructional Technology Coordinator
North Shore Middle School, Hartland, WI

Through an action research project, Ms. Jilek investigates the effect of authentic and relevant experiences on student learning and the effect of interaction with children around the world on students’ attitudes toward other cultures and each other. Students in Ms. Jilek’s increasingly diverse class establish e-mail correspondence with students in other countries and participate in a global classroom project to exchange information and reexamine cultural stereotypes. Ms. Jilek shares the results of her study through district staff meetings and an online teacher exchange.