Payson High Science Teachers Present at UCET Conference

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/15/2012 - 10:17

Three Payson High School teachers presented at the annual Utah Coalition for Educational Technology Conference held March 2 in Salt Lake City. Biology teacher Brian Blake, psychology teacher David Rockwood and chemistry teacher Linda Walter presented a lecture about teachers developing their own textbooks.

Students in Blake’s classroom interact on iPads with his online textbook and students in Rockwood’s class learn from his published sports psychology textbook. Walter uses Moodle and other online interactive tools to teach her students in innovative ways.

Using the technological tools available to publish textbooks and facilitate class learning is something Blake says is essential to today’s classroom.

“Technology in the science classroom is important because it exposes students to the type of learning and work that they we get in the real world,” Blake said.

“Also technology in the classroom engages the student and brings the material to their playground. Students so often "power-up" before they get to school and when they go home, but are told in school to turn all their devices off while at school. Technology lets them own the material.”

On the last day of the conference Pam Turley presented Brian Blake the 2012 UCET Outstanding Teacher of the Year award. According to Turley, even more impressive than Blake’s use of technology in the classroom is the way he has been able to collaborate with other science teachers in the Nebo School District through the use of technology.

“The teachers who teach the same science courses throughout the district are sharing Brian’s courses in Moodle, are collaborating on the content on an ongoing basis, and are functioning as a powerful professional learning community on a district-wide scale,” Turley said.

Blake felt honored to receive the award on behalf of the work many good teachers are doing.

“I am grateful for the recognition, but also feel undeserving of the honor as I feel I have just been doing the things that have been asked of me to do. I have been doing what many good teachers are doing,” said Blake.

Attributions
By Krystal Baker
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