Now in her third year of teaching, Stephanie holds a BA in Psychology from Austin College, and an MS in Education from Texas A&M University. As an instructional technology specialist, she is an important member of the curriculum team at Texas Middle School in Texarkana. In addition to training and working with teachers on implementing technology in their content area, she assists with the development of day-to-day lessons, and teaches model lessons as needed.
A portion of her time has been occupied in revising the student incentive program, which was formerly driven by the exchange of physical tokens between teachers and students. Working with programmers, Stephanie has created and implemented a new online student incentive program that is completely virtual. Students receive debits and credits online, and now can also do all of their own purchasing.
Stephanie calls technology "the hot topic in education," and says that the Mimio interactive system is at the forefront of discussions in her school district. Part of the problem with engaging and motivating students, she says, is that we continue to give them old-fashioned paper and pencil work, while they are "craving engagement that speaks their language - technology." If schools will find resources to train the teachers and provide continued learning opportunities for them, the students will be able to learn in an environment that is engaging and exciting.
"Mimio makes adding technology to our school an easy decision," she says. "Not only is it cost-efficient, but it requires very little additional setup to transform a standard whiteboard into an interactive whiteboard."
Stephanie was a 2007 Region VIII Grant Recipient - Video Conference Focus Team, and was honored as Teacher of the Year, 2008-2009.