April 2010 PiE Newsletter
It is time to Honor Your Teacher
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It is time to honor YOUR teacher!
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The 2010 Honor Your Teacher campaign sponsored by Partners in Education (PiE) is in full tilt.
Typically, families make gifts to PiE of
an average of $50 in honor of a special teacher in their lives. The teachers are
notified in writing of this meaningful gesture, and the funds are earmarked for
PiE's fall Teacher Grant program. To better
understand how the Honor Your Teacher program benefits our teachers, consider
the Fall 2009 teacher grants, which have recently been
awarded.
In an economic
climate that challenges schools to work smarter with less, the 2009-10 PiE
teacher grant program encourages Palo Alto educators to collaborate across
grades, disciplines and school sites in applying their signature ingenuity to
teaching and learning. In the fall round
of teacher grants, 19 high-impact, far-reaching proposals - among them, library
acquisitions, often regarded in budgetary planning as 'deferred maintenance,'
and technological innovation in the classroom, considered a rare luxury --
garnered well-earned support.
At Palo Alto and
Gunn High Schools, the study of math is a real science, since Kathi Bowers at
Paly teamed with Kathy Hawes at Gunn to introduce SMART Clickers into their
classrooms. As part of the "SMART
family" of technological enhancements to classroom learning, the SMART Student
Response clickers enable teachers to gather real-time data about students' grasp
of material as they work out problems at their desks. Questions can also be projected on a SMART
board, which students answer by way of a remote-controlled, personalized instant
response system. Answers are tallied in
real time, and teachers are able to assess the level of comprehension before
plotting their next teaching moment. When a problem is understood by the vast majority of the class, valuable
time is saved by moving on to new material. Individuals with specific needs can
be addressed separately while others take on the next new challenge. The kids are constantly engaged, and more
motivated to show their work to the rest of the class when they see, instantly,
that their answer is correct.
Bowers and Hawes
heard about SMART clickers at a staff development day, where they happened to be
sitting next to each other. By the end of the day, they had hatched a plan to
apply jointly for PiE funding to acquire the technology for their respective
Algebra I classes. They would work
together to install it, undergo the appropriate training, and develop class
activities that would make most effective use of the new technology. Bowers wrote the PiE grant, purchased the
equipment and secured free training. Hawes oversees installation and troubleshooting, having prior experience
with other SMART technology in her classroom. She has introduced the clickers into her Algebra I classroom, where the
response from students has been overwhelmingly positive. "They like to see their
names up on the board, and to get instant feedback on their work," explains
Hawes. Broadcasting their participation in the acquisition of knowledge may seem
frivolous, but the dividends in classroom assessment are great. Students have
gone from solving a total of 5 or 6 problems to solving 12 or more problems in
fifteen minute sessions. Hawes has introduced the clickers into several other
classes, including Honors Trigonometry and AP Calculus.
Wherever students
are on the learning continuum, PiE funding meets them where the need is
greatest, filling in gaps left by budgetary cut-backs, and rewarding our
exceptional teachers for their creative solutions to the hurdles California
schools face on a daily basis. The Honor Your Teacher Program is one way that
PiE enables families who feel overwhelmed by the education funding crisis to be
involved in innovative solutions. All donations in
honor of teachers made to PiE by May 21, 2010, will be included in published
acknowledgments.
Palo
Alto
Partners in Education (PiE) is a non-profit education foundation dedicated to
supporting all Palo Alto
public schools. To make a donation to Honor Your Teacher Campaign please visit PiE HYT
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PiE Announces
New Executive Director
| Kathy Schroeder will be joining PiE as its new Executive Director on May 10th, 2010.
A Palo Alto resident since receiving her MBA at Stanford, Kathy has worked as a tireless volunteer on parcel tax, bond and school board campaigns. In addition, she has help multiple PTA positions, and has consulted professionally for EdSource, a non-profit organization focused on providing information about public education.
Kathy is a Gunn High School parent.
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| Quick Links |
Any other information including volunteering opportunities, please call 650.329.3990 or e-mail info@papie.org | |
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Join us at the
PiE Fair
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We invite you to join us for Partners in Education's annual
PiE Fair, a free, community-wide celebratory event on Saturday, May 1st,
at Addison Elementary School from 10am-1pm, directly after the City of Palo
Alto's May Fete Children's Parade. This
is our opportunity to thank you, our donors, for your generous outpouring of
support for PAUSD schools this year.
PiE Fair is underwritten by our major sponsors, Mid Peninsula Orthodonticsand Peninsula Pediatric Dentistry, with substantial in-kind
support from Steve and Kate's Camp, who will provide multiple attractions,
including a Bungee Jump, Bathtub Racer Go Karts, and an inflatable obstacle
course. Twister's Gymnastics, another star
sponsor, will showcase local children's talent. Carnival games, local business booths, food provided by Esther's German Bakery, a PiE walk, and cool sno-cones complete the fun.
We need student and adult volunteers for set up,
during the event, or clean up! (CSV hours and a free t-shirt)
Please contact Louise Valente.
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PiE Announces
2010-11 Board
| President: Elaine Hahn
Secretary: Becky Epstein
Treasurer: Erwin Hosono
Vice President: Elisabeth Einaudi
Vice President: Xenia Hammer
Vice President: Judy Logan
Vice President: Mandy Lowell
Vice President: Diana Walsh
Director: Marcie Brown
Director: Abbie Dorosin
Director: Heidi Emberling
Director: Esther Fan
Director: Karen French Neuman
Director: Linda Furrier
Director: Elizabeth Olson
Director: Megan O'Reilly Lewis
Director: Sigrid Pinsky
Director: Sarah Sands
Director: Dan Seligson
Director: Linda Verhulp
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| 2010 Corporate Sponsors | 
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