May 12, 2009

Press Release

Foundation Grant Recipients to Display at Teacher of the Year Banquet

Ten recipients of the Tyler ISD Foundation’s grant program will be showcased in the foyer of Harvey Convention Center prior to the 2008-2009 Tyler Independent School District’s Teacher of the Year Banquet on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 6:30 p.m.

“This is the first time we have asked our grant recipients to provide a trade show type exhibit showing the results of the grants provided to them by the Tyler ISD Foundation,” according to Larry Goddard, Tyler ISD Foundation Executive Director.  “This will give the teachers an opportunity to tell their stories of success in their classroom to the community and district personnel.”

The recipients and their grants include:

• Mary Ann Post and Ila England of Clarkston Elementary School, Diamonds in the Rough Writers.  At-risk students will conduct research and write about their findings. Their research will be published in book form and sold to support a local literacy organization. The books will also be donated to local hospitals and to the school’s library. This project emphasizes writing and the importance of community service.
• Jana McWain of Dixie Elementary School, Read Me a Story. This project will provide a collection of children’s books to families with children with disabilities. The purpose is to increase language skills by supporting language development at home and at school. At the end of the semester, parents will be invited to share a special reading celebration with their child.
• “SunEzoon Solar Cars” DeAnna Molloy, Hubbard Middle School (8^th IB-MYP). Equipped only with scissors and excitement, students construct the solar cars and run them on a smooth, level surface powered only by the Sun! Students understand the motion of an object can be moved by the Sun’s hear and energy.  
• DeAnna Molloy of Hubbard Middle School, Let it Shake, Let it Quake. Students will explore earthquake engineering by investigating the effects of varying the placement of a structure’s mass prior to an earthquake by building their very own skyscraper
• Derek Johnson, Johnnie Patton, Laura Field and Dana Sepko of Caldwell Elementary School, Kids in the Jungle. This grants provided funding to produce the Broadway Junior musical, “The Jungle Book.” The production will engage two casts of students in kindergarten through fifth grade in theater arts, music and dance.
• Kaye Kraus of the TARGET program, Proud Pals. This project teams gifted students with students with disabilities in shared learning and cooperation.
• Ginger Pippin and Dawn Hudson of Jack Elementary School, Litter Critters Going Green. The mission of this project is to make a positive influence and reduce the amount of waste that their school and community produce through a campus recycling project.
• Heather Gentry, Holly Chilek, Elaine Walker, and Kristina Salonen of Bonner Elementary School, Picture This: Phase II. This project is a continuation of a fall 2007 grant that was highly successful. The project will be expanded to include 3^rd-5^th graders in the exploration of the art of photography paired with written and verbal assignments.
• “Take Me to Teach” Susan Cothern, Robert E. Lee High School, (10^th-12^th grade). Project “Take Me to Teach” provides transportation on a school bus for Ready, Set, Teach! 1 & 2 students who do not have their own means of transportation. The students work with a TISD school as a teacher’s assistant, and they can earn an educational assistant certificate. When the students graduate from High School, and pass the certification test, they can be employed in public schools as a teacher aid or further their education and become teachers.
• “ROBOTECH – Developing Tomorrow’s Technology Leaders Today!” Paul Eyler, Steve Phillips, Leah Huffstetter, Mary Jenkins, Jan Ace, Pedro Riscado, James S. Hogg Middle School (8^th grade). They study of robotics will allow students to be engaged in design activities that challenge them to develop their own original solution for each problem presented therefore developing the “out of the box” thinking that is important for innovators and tomorrow’s leaders.
• “Art and Science: Hydroponics in the Classroom” Gary Broom & Michelle Voyce, James S. Hogg Middle School (7^th & 8^th grade). Art and Science: Hydroponics in the Classroom is a great, hands on way for students to use the entire scientific process as they track the development of plants grown using the hydroponics method. Students use their artistic, written, and linguistic skills as they record and communicate the changes they observe and the beauty of growing plants

“Donations to the Foundation are important because we are able to help fund projects that teachers, teams of teachers, and campus employees want to add to their curriculum,” said Goddard. “These programs are not typically funded by public funding and we all know that teachers many times must pay for the ‘extras’ in their classroom from their personal funds.  A donation to the Foundation helps alleviate that  We are limited in the amount of grant funding that we make available to teachers and need more donations to help make these grants possible.  I can’t think of a better stimulus package for our society than investing in the public school classrooms,” concluded Goddard.

In addition, Dr. Jack Davidson, former superintendent of Tyler ISD will be signing his poetry books, Books II and III of Rhyme, Reason and Reflection.

“Dr. Davidson is a wordsmith,” stated Goddard.  “His poetry is witty yet thought-provoking as well.  Last year, the Foundation sold more than $2,000 worth of the books at $20 each.  All proceeds go towards the Tyler ISD’s mission of supporting Tyler ISD students and teachers.”

Dr. Davidson’s career has included job titles of many sorts:  guidance counselor, coach, elementary principal, supervising principal, superintendent, special assistant to a university president, visiting professor, as well as president of non-profit and professional organizations.  A conference center at Tyler Independent School District is named in his honor and he received a Life Loyal Membership into the Tyler ISD Foundation—the highest honor the organization provides.

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