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 OfficeMax Teacher
Innovator Award Recipients
Teacher Innovator Awards are presented each month from October through April. Program details are on this site, and you can submit a nomination by email or with the Teacher Innovator Program Nomination Form (Word).
Monthly recipients for 2011-2012 include:
April
Tricia Ullestad, 4/5 Intermediate Teacher, River Woods Elementary School
Who knew that "virtual travel agent" could be part of an innovative teacher's toolbox? April Teacher Innovator winner Tricia Ullestad organized a virtual Road Rally to race groups of students from Bangor, Maine to San Diego, California, "stopping" at landmarks along the way to research and write. Students "became" a soldier of the Civil War and were required to explain and support the position of the side they represented. This spring they will journey along the Oregon Trail, facing the decisions and sacrifices experienced by actual settlers.
In Mrs. Ullestad's classroom, simulations draw students into history and social studies curriculum, bringing people, places and events to life, engaging all levels of students in deeper ways than traditional lessons are able to do.
According to the parent who nominated her, "(Mrs. Ullestad) would sacrifice her own time to help her students in need. She always insisted that we were a team and my child's education was in her hands and she would find a way to help him succeed. She always had a solution for the problem, reassuring me that the teacher/parent team for success in education was her priority."
March
Ryan Hammer, 4/5 Intermediate Teacher, River Woods Elementary School
Don’t you wish you would have learned the “Decimal Place” song? This tune and its smash hit follow-up “Least Common Denominator” were written by March Teacher Innovator winner Ryan Hammer to help students remember important math concepts. A trip he arranged to the Chicago Board Options Exchange demonstrated real-life application of those concepts.
Augmenting subject matter through the arts is a common occurrence in this gifted musician’s classroom. Students are motivated to create comics and contribute creative writing to a school newspaper he initiated with the 4/5 Intermediate team. Mr. Hammer’s unit on Illinois supported self-directed, student-led, and collaborative discovery through research projects, readers theater, and video work. He guides a group of students who are developing a script and performance based on an original story that they've written, to be performed later in March.
Ryan Hammer’s nominators state that “Mr. Hammer truly goes above and beyond the expectations of the class curriculum…he really wants to help the students and make a positive impact on their lives. (He) creates an exciting and encouraging learning environment for his students.”
February
Rebecca DiOrio, Pre-Engineering/Architecture/Research & Design/Drafting Teacher and Robotic Sponsor at Naperville North High School
Visionary, curious, risk taker, imaginative, solution oriented, committed to excellence, collaborative, determined, inspiring, hardworking, creative – these words begin the description on the form nominating Rebecca DiOrio for the February OfficeMax Teacher Innovator Award. Mrs. DiOrio, teacher of architecture, pre-engineering, research and design and drafting, has a vision of education that goes beyond the classroom out into the corporate world.
She pursues this vision in many ways: by arranging student internships, bringing speakers and mentors into her classes and taking students on meaningful and relevant field trips, such as the architecture field trip and University of Illinois Engineering Open House.
For the past three years Rebecca has been instrumental in founding and propelling the Naperville North FIRST robotics program to be a first-class program. A nominator, who first met Rebecca while participating in a robotics conference at College of DuPage , says “She looked at me and I saw a determination that I had never seen before. She said that one day Naperville North would build a robot to put (Motorola’s) to shame. I first thought she was kidding, but after working with her for eight years I know she was actually looking into the future. That day spurred (Mrs. DiOrio’s) eight-year commitment of hard work, networking, promoting, purchasing and recruiting of the best companies, students, engineers, administrators and fellow teachers to see her dream of bringing a robotic program to Naperville North.”
According to one of her students “Mrs. DiOrio takes teaching to a whole new level. Not only does she teach the material, she inspires. Mrs. DiOrio is not only dedicated to making sure her students learn but that they succeed in life.”
(The Teacher Innovator Award is not given in January due to Winter Break)
December
Sharon Merel, Learning Behavior Specialist at Kennedy Junior High School
Sharon Merel is by nature an "outside the box" thinker, suggesting new and flexible ways to improve student learning while finding ways to provide student interventions in a middle school schedule that is already packed full. She has integrated math interventions during science classes as well as providing a zero hour for her students before school so they can receive assistance. Her lunch study party, implemented to help students prepare for the 8th grade Constitution test, was such a hit that the general education social science teachers joined the event.
Mrs. Merel uses technology creatively to empower students and increase their achievement and independence. As a result of her efforts, special needs students at Kennedy have access to laptops loaded with the latest speech recognition software and reading intervention programs. She helps students utilize Kindles to make their own reading modifications and use highlighting and note-taking features, enabling them to be self-directed learners not only while in class but also in their everyday lives.
Mrs. Merel’s support of student learning goes beyond the normal school day and year, extending into the summer when she “checks in” to see how they are doing so she can prepare effectively for the upcoming school year. She stays in touch with students even as they move on to high school in order to refine her teaching and best support her eighth graders for that transition. Since Mrs. Merel wants to show, not just tell, her students that people who have special needs can be and are successful, she asks former students to visit current students and share their successes even in the face of challenges.
A nominator states that “Words cannot express how grateful we are to have Mrs. Merel at Kennedy. Each day she inspires us and our students to be the best we can be. She dedicates a great deal of time to not only her students but also to the District to improve learning for students in other buildings, touching the lives of numerous individuals.”
November
Matt Langes, 7th grade science/social science teacher at Lincoln Junior High School, was nominated by Josh Stumpenhorst who is a fellow teacher at Lincoln.
“(Matt) does not do things simply because it has been done that way in the past. He pushes the envelope and is always looking for ways to do things better for his students. From using music to start his class to maintaining his class website, he uses technology in innovative ways to help his students connect and succeed in school," wrote Stumpenhorst in his nomination.
Langes piloted an Innovative Day with his students last year. This was a day where students spent an entire day pursuing their learning passions. If they were passionate about World War II, they spent their day learning about that. If they are passionate about dance, they spent their day choreographing a new dance. Each student chose a topic they wanted to learn about and then shared or presented their work at the end of the day. Innovation Day impacted student achievement in the way that it ignited a passion for learning within students.
“Often times, students are told what they need to learn based on standards or curriculum. While many of the projects undertaken on Innovative Day had curricular ties, some were based entirely on a student’s passion. This ignites a love of learning that spills over into all facets of a student’s learning. As teachers, our job is to foster a love of learning and through Matt’s Innovation Day, he did just that,” Stumpenhorst explained.
While Innovation Day was an amazing experience as 100 different students were engaged in 100 different learning projects all chosen by themselves, the idea didn’t end there but spread to another grade and then to other schools around the country. Stumpenhorst shared information about Innovation Day on his educational blog, which was then passed along until it came to the attention of the noted bestselling author of “Drive”, Daniel Pink.
"In addition to helping his student, Matt goes above and beyond to present and share with the staff at Lincoln. He is constantly sharing new technology tools and practices in staff development days. People always know when Matt is presenting they will learn a new tool that will help them and their students," added Stumpenhorst.
Innovative Day continues to improve learning activities in his class and throughout the building. Through the power of choice and pursuing passions, teachers are offering more choices to students and allowing them to grow as learners outside the core curriculum area. Matt has and is holding institute sessions for staff to share his experiences and help other teachers and teams start innovative days of their own.
October
Mark Williams, Automotive, Naperville North High School The first Teacher Innovator of the 2011-2012 year is Mark Williams, an automotive instructor in the Career and Technology Education Department at Naperville North High School. Williams was nominated by Lisa Martyn whose son Alex is a student in the program.
Williams partnered with a retired Mechanical Engineering College professor to procure an electric car, E-Dart. This $140,000 grant (including electric power train and every item to make an electric car but the body) was given to Naperville North by Chrysler last year. The students are in the process of assembling a full size electric car. This car was also selected to be displayed last Fall at the Manufacturing Engineer’s Conference in Chicago. No other high school has ever has a display there.
“Because of Mark’s passion for Mechanical Engineering relating to cars, I firmly believe my son reached higher in his learning. He wanted to be a mechanic but is now striving for a Mechanical Engineering Degree and even looking to receive his Masters,” stated Martyn.
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OfficeMax, with corporate headquarters in Naperville, signed a business partnership with Naperville School District 203 in the fall of 2006.
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Building the Future