Press Room
Woodland High School math program receives grant
Woodland High School math teachers Patty O'Flynn and Kash VanCleef were selected by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for one of ten $10,000 grants funded statewide by the Qwest Foundation. The grants are to help teachers integrate technology in the classroom that is innovative and engages students in improving academic performance.
For both O'Flynn and VanCleef, this is yet another grant they have received to provide students with technology-based learning opportunities. Both have received Sustainable Classroom Grants as well as Teacher Leadership Project awards. With a past grant, O'Flynn introduced students to using document cameras, computers and the Hitachi StarBoard to practice problem solving, communication and mathematical skills. The students then also created "mathcasts" that captured both written and verbal work on math thinking and reasoning. After using these technology strategies over the last year, 100 percent of O'Flynn's 10th grade students passed the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) math test.
With the new grant, O'Flynn and VanCleef propose to further expand the technology use in math classrooms enabling about half the students at Woodland High School enrolled in math classes to routinely access and produce projects such as the "mathcasts" and other learning projects.
O'Flynn and VanCleef note that they did not apply for the grant just to have highly equipped technology classrooms for the sake of technology, but instead because it allows them to teach and meet individual student needs, interests and multiple learning styles and help students achieve success in math. "We passionately believe that appropriate use of technology can create this type of learning environment for students," said O'Flynn and VanCleef.
The Qwest Foundation's Kirk Nelson and Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson note that technology literacy and fluency are fundamental for students entering the 21st century workplace and create a real-life learning environment in the classroom.
O'Flynn and VanCleef will also share their technology outcomes with teachers across the state in regional or state conferences between now and August 2008.