Jump to a past Teacher of the Year: Gwyneth Jones, William Barnes, Evelyn E. Walls
John Staley
Teacher of the Year 2002
John Staley is a mathematics teacher at Hereford High School in Baltimore County where he teaches Algebra I, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, and Advanced Placement Statistics. He can mark the beginning of his interest in educational technology to the moment he walked into an NTTI presentation. Since then his interest and skills in teaching and technology have grown tremendously. His enthusiasm and dedication to education through the use of a wide range of technologies has been noted by state and national conference participants and by students and parents alike. He has repeatedly shared what he learned at NTTI, consistently used his technology skills in the classroom, and continually sought out new opportunities to increase his own education.
John is currently in the fourth year of a Ph.D. program in Math Education Leadership at George Mason University and also a graduate assistant for the program. John attended NTTI in 1999 and has served as a master teacher in the NTTI project for three years having co-authored and presented several Web-based/video lessons. It is easy to see that he is excellent teacher and a generous colleague. The parents at Hereford High School appreciate John's professional use of e-mail and how he keeps them informed about student progress. His students boast of his technology use in the classroom and enjoy using Mr. Staley's Web Page that has resources designed just for them.
Besides using the NTTI methodology and technology resources in the classroom and presenting to the staff at Hereford High School, John has served on the Middle School Mathematics Advisory Team, the curriculum development committee, the textbook adoption committee and the technology committee. Furthermore, John has presented various topics at many state and national professional development conferences, including Equations, Tables, and Graphs, Oh My! at the Eisenhower Professional Development Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, Teaching Mathematics with Technology at the Stafford County Public Schools Inservice in Virginia, and Concrete Connections at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Eastern Regional Conference, Boston, Massachusetts.
In addition to earning the 2002 NTTI Teacher of the Year Award for Maryland, John was a Baltimore County Teacher of the Year Finalist in 2001 and a 2002 Maryland State Finalist for Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science. He attended the AP Equity Colloquium, a 2-day colloquium on equity issues for minorities in Atlanta, Georgia, and has been selected as an AP Faculty Consultant serving as a reader for the 2003 AP Statistics examination.
John received his M.Ed. in Secondary Education from Temple University, and a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has been an educator in public and private schools for over 15 years.
Gwyneth Anne Jones
Teacher of the Year 2001
Gwyneth Anne Jones is the Library Media/Technology Specialist at Murray Hill Middle School, Howard County Public School System, Maryland. In that capacity, it has been a goal of hers to encourage math and science teachers to utilize the resources found in the Library Media Center and to provide them with innovative ways to incite students' enthusiasm for their own learning. Whether utilizing video, the Internet, CD-ROMs, traditional research resources, digital photography, TV production and digital editing, WebQuests, software applications, information literacy skills, or the NTTI binder, Gwyneth assists her fellow teachers and students to explore a variety of ways to enliven the curriculum. She believes that when students have a sense of ownership about what they learn and how the knowledge is gained, then learning has true value and meaning to them.
Gwyneth is committed to the NTTI 's "turn-key" philosophy of peer training, mentoring, and sharingresources, and teaching technology skills through her school, county, and state-wide presentations.
She is a former Maryland Public Television (MPT) 1998 NTTI Master Teacher and a 1999 MPT NTTI Internet Workshop presenter. The Web site she designed for the 2000 MPT NTTI, Internet Integration: a Jump Start has won the coveted A+ Education site from Eduhound.com. She also presented an Internet workshop at the MPT 2000 BioHealth Link: Questions of Cancer Summer Institute, held at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Gwyneth was one of fourteen Maryland Instructional Computer Coordinators Association (MICCA) Grant Winners and Best Practices presenter in 1998-99 for her innovative computer-based proposal entitled: "Studying the Effect of Weather and Erosion on the Environment."
Gwyneth left a career in advertising, public relations and marketing nearly nine years ago to pursue a career in technology education and in her words, "I love it and I've never looked back!" She now uses effective communication skills gained through her experiences in the business world to communicate her love of research and information gathering, reading, and technology with her students.
Gwyneth holds an undergraduate degree in English Literature and a Masters of Instructional Technology, both from Towson University.
William Barnes
Teacher of the Year 2000
Bill Barnes is the mathematics content leader at Ridgely Middle School in the Baltimore County Public School System. He is a former Maryland Public Television 1998 NTTI and 1999 EnviroHealth Link Master Teacher. He is a member of Baltimore County's SSMART team, which works to provide staff development to math teachers across the county.
Bill has presented at many educational conferences throughout Maryland, impacting over 300 colleagues statewide, including the 1998 Baltimore County Public Schools Mathematics Professional Study Day, Maryland Council for Teachers of Mathematics, and Frostburg State University's Annual Mathematics Symposium. As a content leader in his school and a leader in the school system, Bill continues to share his technology integration skills with educators and colleagues, modeling effective uses of videos, calculators, the Internet and multimedia software.
Bill earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics at Towson State University and recently completed his Master's degree in math and science education from Johns Hopkins University. He was recognized for teaching excellence in his first year as Baltimore County's entrant for the Sallie Mae Outstanding First Year Teacher Award. His current interest is the development of a school-wide reading initiative.
Bill's students enjoy utilizing his Web site, where students can correspond through a discussion group, download copies of last year's tests and quizzes, examine Baltimore County Public Schools' indicators, and check to see who qualified as the "students of the month." This site has become so popular with the students that it received 1000 hits in the month of November! One student explained, "I was one of the first students of the month. He would take a picture of us and post it on the Web site. He would do this for all of his classes. He posted homework and upcoming quizzes, and he had a link to Dr. Math, which also helped. I think it is great and he should have this Web site for his future students, too."
When reflecting upon his own professional growth through his NTTI experiences and beyond, Bill remarks, "NTTI has forever changed the face of my classroom. Mathematics is a challenging and often abstract discipline that has been known to scare off more than a few individuals. However, through the use of instructional video, instructional software, graphing calculators and the Internet, my classroom has come alive. I have used the lessons that I developed through NTTI and EnviroHealth Link to take my students on virtual journeys to places that they otherwise might never visit, such as Three Mile Island, the Florida Everglades, the Pyramids of Egypt, and even inside the human body."
Bill has authored many math, science and technology integrated lessons through his experiences as a Master Teacher for NTTI and EnviroHealth Link, including Save the Zerpets, an introduction to population sampling, Don't Sit So Close to the TV!, a lesson about exposure to electric and magnetic fields, and Who Invented Math?, an exploration of the history of mathematics with a focus on women and their contributions to the field. Bill continues to actively seek out opportunities to share his knowledge with others, and he is currently a Master Teacher for Maryland Public Television's 2000 NTTI.
Evelyn E. Walls
Teacher of the Year 1999
Evelyn E. Walls is a science teacher at Francis Scott Key Elementary/Middle Technology Magnet School, and has taught middle school science in the Baltimore City Public School System for 23 years. Evelyn attended her first NTTI three years ago, where she became energized with the excitement of bringing new ideas to her students. “The remote control became an extension of (her) hand in the classroom, and (her) students became actively involved with video, not as observers, but as participants.” Evelyn is a model “turn-key” teacher, demonstrating how computers, the Internet, digital cameras, CD-ROMS, and other high-tech materials are serving as highly motivational and vital resources for her students in the science classroom. She leads professional development sessions at her school and administers workshops on “Beginning Web Page Design” for teachers and other professionals. Evelyn presented at the District of Columbia Public School’s Mathematics, Science and Technology Initiative Conference and at The Maryland Technology Showcase/97. She also assists in updating her school's Web site, which recently received recognition from the Discovery Channel School and was featured in the 'School Spotlight' on the Discovery Channel School Web Site. Evelyn has worked with her students in the completion of many exemplary technology-integrated projects, one of which the students themselves presented at The Environmental Symposium in New Hampshire in spring of 1998. In 1998-1999 her students participated in an actual NASA Space Shuttle Mission. Evelyn was named Technology & Learning magazine's Maryland state winner in the 1998 Teacher of the Year awards program, sponsored by Microsoft Corp., honoring U.S. K-12 teachers who use technology to inspire students in the science classroom.
Currently, Evelyn is serving as a master teacher for MPT’s EnviroHealth Link, a professional development environmental health, science and technology institute for Maryland secondary teachers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.