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Five educators from Indiana honored for outstanding teaching about Congress
March 27, 2001
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Five social studies teachers from across Indiana will be honored Thursday (March 29) in Indianapolis with Indiana University Center on Congress Outstanding Teaching Awards.
The awards will be presented at a luncheon that is part of the annual spring convention of the Indiana Council for the Social Studies, at the St. Vincent Marten House, 1801 W. 86th St., on the north side of Indianapolis.
Teachers receiving awards will be Roz Fishman of Floyd Central High School in Floyds Knobs, Matt Furfaro of Concord High School in Elkhart, Elaine Jerrell of Roncalli High School in Indianapolis, Gerald Long of Brown County High School in Nashville, and Brett Phipps of Harrison High School in Evansville.
The award, for exemplary teaching about the U.S. Congress, includes $5,000 to each teacher. Lee Hamilton, a former congressman from Indiana and director of the IU center, and Suellen Reed, Indiana superintendent of public instruction, will present the honors.
This is the second year for the awards, which are sponsored by the Cummins Engine Foundation in Columbus, Ind. They are presented annually to social studies teachers at the middle or high school level who have made exemplary efforts in teaching about the U.S. Congress.
Here is more information about each award recipient and what makes their teaching efforts outstanding:
• Fishman, of Floyd Central High School, immerses her students in both the processes of Congress and the substance of issues before Congress by having them research the problems and draft bills which they must introduce and pass through a model Congress. She turns her four classes into a model Congress with two classes representing the House of Representatives and two the Senate. She uses video and Web-based technology to bring both the process and substance of congressional deliberations to life.
• Furfaro, of Concord High School, stresses experiential learning about Congress. Classes create a constitution and hold elections and then engage in a congressional simulation. Students also produce projects about Congress, based on their experiences and learning. Innovative use of video and technology is incorporated into the learning process.
• Jerrell, of Roncalli High School, uses a multi-faceted learning approach that emphasizes variety, experiential learning and innovation. Students are assigned a current member of Congress, and they do research about their member's political background, issue stances and legislative accomplishments. They then communicate with their member and predict how their member will vote on a particular bill. Students also undertake creative projects about Congress and participate in a mock Congress.
• Long, of Brown County High School, emphasizes in his American Government class the role of the legislative branch in the national government. He immerses students in research about potential legislation and forms them into committees, whose responsibility is to draft legislation which is then debated and voted upon in the mock Congress. Students are exposed to the trade-offs in legislative approaches and the process of gaining acceptance for a selected approach by a diverse representative body.
• Phipps, of Harrison High School, uses a multi-project, experiential learning approach that effectively integrates the use of technology by students to learn about Congress. Students create their own Web sites to showcase their work and use the class Web site in the course of their learning. His interactive bill project aids students in learning firsthand the complexity and difficulty of creating effective legislation.
More information on the IU Center on Congress and its teaching awards is available at the center's Web site at http://congress.indiana.edu/
(George Vlahakis, 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu or Debbie Still, 812-856-4706, dstill@indiana.edu)