GILROY
– Antonio Del Buono first-grade teacher Maryellen Bauer has
received an Innovator Award from the Santa Clara County Office of
Education, one of only three educators across the county to garner
the distinction.
GILROY – Antonio Del Buono first-grade teacher Maryellen Bauer has received an Innovator Award from the Santa Clara County Office of Education, one of only three educators across the county to garner the distinction.
Bauer, who was eligible for the award after attending a professional development seminar on technology in the classroom last summer, was given $1,000 by the county. Another $1,000 prize will go to her school for technology or tech related purposes.
“I hope this inspires other teachers to use what’s out there,” Bauer said. “I’m really hoping they see what can be done with technology in the classroom. I think people would be surprised how it can be used to teach vocabulary, writing and other subjects.”
Bauer won the county recognition specifically for her use of the Internet in regular instruction. A sample of the Web pages Bauer’s students developed is viewable online at www.homepage.mac.com/maryellenbauer.
The sampler allows viewers to see language arts work the children did for each of the seasons. On the Web page link for summer, for instance, students were asked to draw pictures and make sentences for clothing that is worn during that season.
“It’s pretty impressive for first-graders. The students drew the pictures, scanned the pictures and recorded the sentences. The only thing they didn’t do was import and manage the files,” Bauer said.
Bauer’s use of the Internet in the classroom is not a first-time thing for the eight-year Gilroy Unified School District veteran. Since 1999, Bauer has used the Internet in her classroom regularly, she said, and next year plans on expanding the role of the Web in her lessons.
“I want to use it as a communication tool next. That’s the one thing I didn’t get to do with the kids this year,” Bauer said.
Bauer is also the school’s Web master, a site that can be viewed at www.gusd.k12.ca.us/schools/DelBuono.
Bauer said the use of the Internet in the classroom is not about getting children to be more computer savvy, although that is a natural by-product of her efforts.
“This is a new and exciting way for them to learn,” Bauer said. “We learned 400 vocabulary words when we put the Web site together. We read a lot of books to get those words, and they used vocabulary in their writing they normally wouldn’t use.”
Bauer encourages other teachers to investigate the ways computers can be brought into regular curriculum. She said a good resource for educators who want to incorporate technology into the classroom can be found online at Foothill College’s Krause Center for Innovation Web site (www.foothillglobalaccess.org). The Los Altos school offers several online courses about technology each semester.
