2010-2011 AzTEA/Qwest Grants Round One

2010-2011 AzTEA/Qwest Grants Round One

Winning Proposals: Round Two 2010-2011

Round Three 2010-2011

Spring 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006

2010-2011

Round One Fall Recipients:

Barbara McDonald & Ruth Soza	Cinematic Books $9,995.75	Sunnyside High School, Sunnyside Unified School District
Jeanne Quan Damman	Green Around the World $9,916.8	Horseshoe Trails Elementary School, Cave Creek Unified School District
Brenda Hardy	Fluency Through Technology $3,983.17	Carol Rae Ranch Elementary, Gilbert Unified School District
Faith Hester	Preparing Minority Students for STEM Careers by Teaching Genetics and Evolution Through Gel Eloctrophoresis $3,637.15	Alhambra College Preparatory High School, Alhambra Elementary School District
Kimberly Rice	iPod Touch and Peer Tutoring for Classroom Survival Skills $3,018.69	Griffith Elementary School, Balsz Elementary School District

Cinematic Books

Recipients: Barbara McDonald &

Ruth Soza

School: Sunnyside High School

District: Sunnyside Unified

$9995.75

Project Description: Students will drive the reading market to the shelves with their creation of “must-see” book trailers. Their compelling productions will populate the Sunnyside website and social networks with individual style and selection while students of all abilities practice and develop 21st Century thinking, collaboration, presentation, self- & peer-evaluation and literacy skills. District Article

Barbara McDonald's Bio: Born and raised in Michigan (Go Lions, Tigers, Pistons, and Red Wings!) she received her B.A in Theatre at Aquinas College and her M.A in Directing at Central Michigan University. She has taught in a self-contained 4^th grade classroom, and at the middle school, high school, college and adult education levels. She received a M.A. in Education with an emphasis in Online and Distance Learning from the University of Phoenix and studied extensively at the University of Arizona in Oral Interpretation. For the last twenty-five years she has taught at the high school, college and adult education levels. Receiving many awards for her innovative ideas and teaching excellence over the years, Barbara MacDonald is presently teaching English teacher at Sunnyside High School in Tucson, Arizona. “I got into education to make the world a better place.” Barbara challenges her students to go beyond the classroom to be youth advocates and activists. “There is really no place I would rather be than in the classroom with students! I simply love what I do. I look for creative, exciting ways to climb ‘out of the box’ and I look for great people who I can work with who share the same enthusiastic commitment to teaching. I think the best is yet to come and I can hardly wait to see where I go next.”

Ruth Soza's Bio: Ruth has been the Librarian at Sunnyside High School for the past 34 years. During that long period of time, she has watched the world change with new technology and has worked to use these changes in the library, to foster a love of reading with the students at Sunnyside. “No matter how many new gadgets students use, nothing will replace the value and enjoyment of reading a great story.” She has also served as the Academic Decathlon coach, was named Academic Decathlon coach of the year, and is an Advisory Committee Member to the National Honor Society. She has a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee and a Master of Library Science from the University of Arizona. Away from the library, Ruth enjoys reading (of course), cooking, entertaining, and hanging out with her husband, son, and cat.

Green Around the World

Recipient: Jeanne Quan Damman

School: Horseshoe Trails Elementary School

District: Cave Creek Unified School District

$9916.8

Project Description: Student created public service announcement presented on local television network to outreach community awareness, education, and call to action on environmental issues locally internationally through globe-crossing collaboration with students in China. This is a project about global awareness, environmental leadership, communication and outreach, centered at the heart of a solid language arts program. Laptops, Skype and Webcams move a sixth-grade class beyond their perceived world while gaining communication, research and leadership skills through interaction with their Chinese counterparts as part of the school’s Mandarin Chinese language program.

"Our mission at Horseshoe Trails elementary School is to create a thinking and learning community in which individuals think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best from themselves and others."

Jeanne Quan Damman’s Bio: She currently teaches 6^th grade English Language Arts at Horseshoe Trails Elementary School in the Cave Creek Unified School District, Cave Creek, Arizona. Previous recognition and contributions to the education community include:

7^th grade English Language Arts for seven years at Desert Arroyo Middle School where, she piloted their mobile laptop computer lab.
Presenter, Microcomputers in Education Conference at Arizona State University.
Presenter, National Council of Teachers of English and the Arizona English Teachers Association.
Arizona English Journal publication, National Council of Teachers of English and the Arizona English Teachers Association

Fluency Through Technology

Recipient: Brenda Hardy

School: Carol Rae Ranch Elementary
District: Gilbert Unified School District

$3983.17

Project Description: Students use iTouches to select, record, edit, set goals, and monitor their own reading fluency in collaborative groups. In the News, East Valley Tribune Article

Recipient’s Bio: I decided to become a teacher when I was in elementary school. I love learning, helping others reach their potential, and the challenge of solving problems.

National Board Certification in Literacy: Reading, Language Arts in Early and Middle Childhood
Master’s Degree in Elementary Education, 1999, Northern Arizona University
Graduated with honors and obtained my Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education in 1994 from Arizona State University
Associates of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education, 1991, Central Arizona College
Taught swimming lessons and lifesaving courses to all ages for four years
In charge of and taught in a private Christian School for seven years in Farmington, New Mexico.
Taught preschool for five years at Tempe Christian School in Tempe
At that job my duties also included the before school opening person, and summer computer instructor
Academic SKILLS class teaching K-3 self-contained students who had severe language disabilities, Gilbert S.D., special education department at Houston Elementary
Third grade teacher at Houstonand Carol Rae Elementaries for four years, from 1998 to 2001
Reading Specialist, Parent Liason, After school programs, Carol Rae Elementary

I enjoy the challenge of teaching. I like figuring out how to best help my students, and am always searching for new and innovative ways to reach them. When I am not teaching I enjoy quilting, sewing, biking, reading, traveling, and being a grandma.

Preparing Minority Students for STEM Careers by Teaching Genetics and Evolution Through Gel Eloctrophoresis

Recipient: Faith Hester

School: Alhambra College Preparatory High School

District: Alhambra Elementary School District

$3637.15

Project Description: CSI meets High School biology as students use DNA kits, finger printing techniques and micro test tubes to compare DNA samples while strengthening research, math and science skills.

iPod Touch and Peer Tutoring for Classroom Survival Skills

Recipient: Kimberly Rice

School: Griffith Elementary School

District: Balsz Elementary School District

$3018.69

Project Description: Peer tutoring goes high tech with iPods, data logging and video conferencing as special education students and their general education counterparts gain social and subject skills through interaction.

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