COMMENTS FOR TEACHERS 3

The third teacher I followed was Beth Still. She teaches Social Studies in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Beth Still is an exceptionally dedicated educator. She is a go-getter and she is really absorbed into her role as a teacher.

In the first blog post I commented on for Ms. Still called the Still Family Laptop Initiative, her and her husband are doing an incredibly honorable thing. They have organized a non-profit project in which they are trying to help low income students attain a laptop for education purposes. She starts with the students in her class. She has found an affordable laptop,  around $500, for the students and in return, the students are required to do 25 volunteer hours in a community program, for which they will receive a $100 credit. They can also volunteer an additional 25 hours to receive another $100 credit. She is also offering the students attendance incentives. So, by volunteering in the community and attending class regularly, they can receive up to $250 credit towards their laptop, which leaves only $250 for them to pay out of pocket. She is working with local business and agencies, who will benefit by the volunteer work, and by doing so, also getting the students involved in the community.

In my second response to another blog post titled "Googlizing my Students", Ms. Still is experimenting with Google Apps in her classroom. For most, if not all, of the students, this was their first experience with any of the google applications. She had them setting up their own pages, accessing classes, inputting in the calendar and grade book, calling from google voice and video chat (which the students thought was so cool) and also experimenting with Google Earth. She has set up a project for the students to pick a National Park in the US and use Google Earth to record a virtual trip of different landmarks throughout the park. All of which the students were thrilled to learn about.

I admire Beth Still's initiative she has in her classroom and her dedication to her students. She is going above and beyond with the Laptop Initiative. Not only is she helping students attain tools that will advance their education but she is instilling a great value into them by getting them involved in their community, something that they will carry with them throughout the rest of their lives. She is getting her students involved in daily lessons which will engage them profusely. Being personally involved in something brings great value to learning it. If she were to say, "ok, everyone go to the library and do a research paper on a National Park", how excited do you think the students would be to do that? Not very much. They'd probably think, "ugh, another paper." Instead, she is introducing new and exciting ways to explore different resources and using new, mind-stimulating tools in which her students will be more intrigued by. I hope that I can have half the dedication she has, when I become a teacher. She is really doing these kids a wonderful service, and her community too.