Learning and Leading - November 2012

Outstanding Teacher: Matt Cauthron, digital arts instructor, Palm Springs Unified School District, Cathedral City, California, USA

Outstanding Leader: Alice Owen, division director of technology, Irving Independent School District, Irving, Texas, USA The Outstanding Teacher and Outstanding Leader awards honor individuals who have demonstrably improved education through the effective use of technology.

Outstanding Young Educator: Caroline Haebig, social studies teacher, Kenosha Unified School District, Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA The Outstanding Young Educator Award honors an educator under 35 who has demonstrated vision, innovation, action, and transformation while using technology to improve learning and teaching.

publishing their work and using other sources,” she says. “It is significant for teachers to educate students about the importance of fair-use policy and how to create and use digital content responsibly, inside and outside of school. The projects and opportunities I create challenge students to engage in an extensive creative process, producing professional products and sharing their work with the larger community and online publishing.”

Watch a video about Haebig’s class projects: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxCTjg17pI www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAc11X6ay_M

Nancye Blair, technology and gifted specialist, McKeel Elementary Academy, Lakeland, Florida, USA; Krista Moroder, English teacher, School District of Reedsburg, Reedsburg, Wisconsin, USA; Morgan O’Connor, social studies teacher, Lakes Community High School, Lake Villa, Illinois, USA; Robert Pronovost, teacher, Ravenswood City School District, East Palo Alto, California, USA; Justin Reich, co-director, Ed Tech Teacher, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; Kelsey Vroomunn, teacher and instructional technology coach, St. Mary’s Academy, Englewood, Colorado, USA; Selena Ward, technology integra-tion teacher, Prince George’s County Public Schools, Bowie, Maryland, USA Emerging Leaders are young educators who are also leaders in technology integration.

Public Policy Advocate: Kathleen McClaskey, NHSTE advocacy chair and president of Ed Tech Associates, Inc., Amherst, New Hampshire, USA The Public Policy Advocate Award recognizes outstanding leaders and mentors in advocating for educational technology policy at the local, state, regional, national, and/or international level.

Kay L. Bitter Vision Award for Excellence in Technology-Based PK– 2 Education: Jennifer Orr, teacher, Annandale Terrace Elementary School, Annandale, Virginia, USA The Kay L. Bitter Award honors a PK– 2 educator for vision and creativity in a project or program that effectively integrates technology.

Outstanding Young Educator:

Caroline Haebig, social studies educator, Bradford High School, Kenosha Unified School District, Wisconsin, USA

Caroline Haebig exemplifies what it means to teach digital age skills. In a project designed to explore the psychological factors that shape political behavior, she taught her students to research, write, and create a documentary for an assignment called the Good Citizen Project. Haebig’s students interviewed political scientists, researchers, and professors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After gathering information, they organized their footage into a sophisticated documentary that illustrated students’ critical thinking skills, technological abilities, and digital citizenship skills.

“In order to critically comprehend the
world around us, we must build student
literacy skills that teach students to eval-
uate and communicate with a variety of
media,” Haebig says. “It is not enough
for students to create a product. It’s more
important to create one that effectively
communicates powerful and intelligent
messages to a larger audience.”
Haebig is the quintessential ISTE
educator in that she keeps her skills
sharp by taking advantage of profes-
sional development opportunities
and then shares what she’s learned
with her colleagues.

“She enjoys leading others to pertinent information through her knowledge of the job and her passion for teaching,” says her principal, Susan Savaglio-Jarvis.