Education Matters: Two local finalists for Illinois Teacher of the Year
An O’Fallon chemistry teacher and a first-grade teacher are two of the 10 finalists for the 2016 Illinois Teacher of the Year. The high honor is going to a teacher in Palatine.
Rebecca Merrill, of O’Fallon Township High School, and Valerie Gabriel, of Germantown Hills Elementary School, will be honored on Oct. 17 by the Illinois State Board of Education at its annual “Those Who Excel” banquet.
More than 250 nominations were reviewed this year by a selection committee of administrators, teachers and representatives from educational service personnel, student support personnel and past Illinois Teacher of the Year winners.
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A handful of eighth-grade girls took positive action with Post-It notes at Triad Middle School in St. Jacob recently. The six girls put three sticky notes on every eighth-grader’s locker with positive notes including messages like “I love your smile.”
The project was part of the school’s Academy Rotation, and in Jenna Lisson’s class students had to plan a project that would have a positive impact on a person, school or community. Students had to keep it positive and had to prove they planned it.
The girls decided on a “Post-It-ive” project and created a schedule for teachers to let students out so they could see the messages.
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Statewide education initiatives will be discussed at a back-to-school webinar at 7 p.m. Sept. 23.
Go to attendee.gotowebinar.
5338416294297449473 to register for the free webinar co-hosted by the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Parent Teacher Association.
State Superintendent Tony Smith and Illinois PTA President Matthew Rodriguez will be on the online seminar, which will last an hour and focus on five areas: money, quality, autonomy, competency and community.
“There are multiple studies that show and confirm that parent involvement directly relates to student success,” Rodriguez said.
This is the second year the agency has hosted the event, and nearly 400 people participated online last year, according to ISBE.
The webinar will discuss also the upcoming score report release for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exam and how results will reflect higher expectations and changes to the test this school year.
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Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School in Waterloo is offering The Mileage Club to all its students. A quarter-mile red-and-white line painted around the playground is the track, and each lap is recorded by a punch in a student’s card. After 20 punches, the kindergarten through eighth-grade students receive a color-coded foot charm for a keyring. Students who choose to exercise during recess and free time will be recognized on the Mileage Club Bulletin Board.
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Kindergarten through sixth-grade students can join the Belleville West cheerleaders in a first-half performance at the Sept. 26 football game.
The Belleville West cheerleaders are holding a clinic that day to teach cheers and practice tumbling, safe stunting and jumps. Participants will be divided by age group and learn cheers that they will do during the first quarter with the Belleville West cheerleaders. Each age group will also perform its own cheer between the first and second quarters. The clinic runs from 8 to 11 a.m., with registration between 7:30 and 8 a.m. The $35 cost includes lunch and a T-shirt.
For more information, go to bwestathletics.org, and look under Fall Sports for Cheerleading — Football or email amims@bths201.org.
Do you have an item for Education Matters or an education-related story tip? We want to know about it. Send your ideas to Mary Cooley at education@bnd.com or 618-239-2535. Follow her on Twitter: @MaryCooleyBND.
This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 9:47 AM with the headline "Education Matters: Two local finalists for Illinois Teacher of the Year."