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News Release

Last modified: Tuesday, September 27, 2011

First class of Jacobs Teacher Educators to be honored as part of Saturday’s Teacher and Educator Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 27, 2011

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--The Indiana University School of Education has selected its first group of Jacobs Teacher Educators from Indiana and across the country to be honored this Saturday (Oct. 1) on Teacher and Educator Day in Bloomington.

The day begins with a ceremony at the School of Education to recognize and celebrate the inaugural Jacobs Teacher Educators. Festivities continue at the Hoosier Village tailgate, located on the south side of Memorial Stadium, prior to the noon IU-Penn State football game. The School of Education is inviting the public to sign a Teacher and Educator Appreciation Banner that will travel the state and be prominently displayed in the Wright Education Building on the Bloomington campus.

Saturday is also Teacher and Educator Day at Memorial Stadium. IU Athletics is offering $25 tickets for the IU-Penn State game to teachers and educators who buy their tickets before Saturday

The Jacobs Teacher Educator Award is the latest program at the School of Education designed to promote excellence in the use of technology in classroom teaching. The new program is made possible by a $1 million gift from the late Barbara B. Jacobs, who established the Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology in 1998.

The Jacobs Teacher Educator Award will honor annually three Indiana teachers and two teachers from across the country who use technology to support innovative, inquiry-based teaching and learning activities in their classrooms.

"We are proud to announce the first recipients of the Jacobs Teacher Educator Award recognizing some of the best, most creative teachers in the state and the nation. Honoring them with this award will also allow us to learn from their ideas and apply their knowledge to the preparation of the next generation of educators," said Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the IU School of Education. "We are particularly grateful for the vision and generosity of the late Barbara Jacobs, who made this innovative and exciting public-private partnership possible."

The 2011 Jacobs Teacher Educators are:

• John Gensic -- biology teacher at New Prairie High School in New Carlisle, Ind.
• Carla Beard -- English teacher at Connersville High School in Connersville, Ind.
• Sally Nichols -- BioLit teacher at New Tech School of IDEAS, Indianapolis.
• Cory Callahan -- social studies teacher at Auburn High School in Auburn, Ala.
• Michael Perkins -- elementary teacher at Tully Elementary School in Tully, NY.

"We are so pleased with the high quality of this inaugural class," said Tom Brush, the current Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology. "Their innovative practices in using technology in teaching and learning will help the School of Education to capture and analyze those best practices so we are able to share them with other teachers and future teachers."

Each teacher selected will receive a $1,500 stipend at the end of the one-year appointment and $1,000 toward purchasing technology resources to support his or her teaching, as well as funds to support travel to Indiana University for professional development events throughout the year.

The IU School of Education is one of the world's premier programs for preparing tomorrow's teachers, counselors, school psychologists, educational leaders, curriculum designers and educational scholars. Its mission is to improve teaching, learning, and human development in a global, diverse, rapidly changing, and increasingly technological society. It has more than 68,000 alumni, including the 2011 Indiana Teacher of the Year and eight of 10 finalists for 2011. U.S. News and World Report ranks five of its degree programs in the Top 10 nationally.

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