Category: Archive (Page 3 of 13)

Mrs. Alley  has applied for & received various grants throughout the years  in an effort to enhance science, reading, writing & technology instruction for her students Westwood Elementary Kindergarten Students.  Mrs. Alley’s enthusiasm for Innovative Education tools has lead her to use these grants to acquire Butterfly Garden & a worm composting kit, Response Clicker, a classroom Smartboard and Goldie Blox, a program that enables girls to utilize engineering skills and get girls interested in becoming engineers.

Mrs. Alley was nominated for the 2014 WEDGE Award by her principal, Mrs. Brewster.  Mrs. Brewster wrote:

“Mary Beth has pioneered many initiatives that have been shared with the other kindergarten teachers at Westwood and Lindsey.  It is without hesitation that I nominate Mrs. Alley for the WEDGE Award. She continues to seek out innovative programs to challenge her students as well as other primary students in our district.”

We would like to congratulate Mrs. Mary Beth Alley on her award and thank her for her dedication to Innovation in the classroom.

Mary Bethe Alley and Caroline Concilla

Mrs. Debbie Lachman is a 3^rd Grade Teacher at Lindsey Elementary.  She is instrumental in teaching her students through the use of technology.  Debbie used a WEDGE Grant to purchase incubators for a science project that par lade into other content areas.  With the use of an Ipad, SMARTBoard, and a web camera,the students in her class were able to witness the cycle of an embryo as it developed into

WEDGE President Caroline Concilla (center) with Sean Whalen and Debbie Lachman 2013 WEDGE Award winners

a chick.  The students logged the development on a daily basis.  Video clips were captured and posted to her classroom website so that the students could share this information with their parents.  This was only one exciting learning experience for the students.  Debbie utilizes various websites to meet student’s needs.  Along with that, Debbie has taught the children, both on a laptop and Ipad-keynote, how to design power-point presentations for reports and presentations.

 Mr. Sean Whelan has been a tremendous help with the integration of technology at Westwood Elementary. During the 2012-2013 school year, he has spent countless hours reviewing information, creating walk-through packets for staff, holding in-service meetings on tech usage and sharing best practices with his grade level team as well as staff in the building. Even though he served in the capacity of instruction tech for Westwood, he makes himself available during his planning time, lunch and after school to address issues and assist Westwood staff and students using anything from smartboards, computers, iPads, elmo projectors, senteos, apple tvs, etc. Denise Brewster stated “Most importantly, Sean knows how to seamlessly integrate technology into our day-to-day instruction. Our staff would overwhelmingly agree, Sean, makes a huge difference on how teachers teach students in their classrooms.”  

At the beginning of each school year, West Geauga Education Foundation presents the WEDGE Award.  This award is given to those in the community that use new and innovative methods for learning in our schools.

Congratulations Mrs. Lachman and Mr. Whelan. These innovative teachers have split the annual $500 award.