Lesson on Probability Terms Nets Jefferson Terrace Elementary Teacher a Public Broadcasting Service Teachers Innovation Award
- September 21, 2011
There was a good probability that Katrice Hall, a grades 3-5 Math teacher at Jefferson Terrace Elementary School, would win a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Innovative Teachers Award after entering a videotaped lesson of probability terms from last spring. That probability proved true, as her fifth-grade lesson won a second place award nationally for incorporating a PBS resource into her fifth-grade lesson. Winners were filmed for PBS last week.
The 2011 PBS Teachers Innovation Awards, sponsored by The Henry Ford and SMART Technologies, invited Pre-K through 12th-grade educators last spring to share ideas and videos showcasing how they were engaging students with PBS resources and innovative ideas to reinforce 21st century learning skills. Twenty-eight second-place winners, of whom Hall was one, won a bag of PBS items. All winners will be invited to partner with PBS and local public television stations as leaders in classroom innovation. Locally, that station is the Louisiana Public Broadcasting channel (WLPB). Hall’s entry can be viewed online at: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/innovators/gallery/2011/entries/829/.
When introducing probability terms to the class, Hall utilized the lesson “Chances Are,” a PBS lesson, but with the addition of technology in the delivery of the lesson and extension. She introduced probability terms by asking students to tell what chance she had to make a basketball “basket” 10 feet away then began a discussion of what probability means. Using the Interactive Board, a probability line was created, and students revealed the decimal and percentage of the terms impossible, unlikely, equally likely, likely and certain. During this small group activity, Hall modified events from the PBS lesson and used events relative to our state. For example, she asked students what are the chances the Saints will win the Super Bowl again.
Principal Brister in Washington, D.C., to Accept McKinley Middle School’s Second Blue Ribbon Award
On Tuesday, November 13, 2012, Principal Herman Brister (pictured, left) and the school’s Teacher of the Year, Lynn Williamson (right), were in Washington, D.C., accepting McKinley Middle Academic Magnet School’s National Blue Ribbon Award from U.S. Department of Education’s Director of National Blue Ribbon Schools Program Aba Kumi (center). The event, which recognized some 314 schools from across the United States, was held at the Omni Hotel. Click herefor story.
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