District 228 Teachers Present New Teaching Ideas to Board of Education

The spotlight was on several teachers during the District 228 Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 20, as teachers from all four district high schools presented six ideas to improve the district.

At the district's annual institute day, which took place Oct. 5, teachers from across the district presented various ideas and programs for possible use in the classroom. Of all the presentations, six were chosen as standouts to be presented before the board.

Although only five of the six presenters were available for the meeting, the board was left with a hard choice of who would be named as the top presentation and earn a nice reward for their efforts.

“Whoever the board chooses as the top pair or person, they get to choose a state or national teaching conference to attend,” said Cori Williams, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching & Learning. “Plus they then are the keynote speaker at next year's institute day.”

The five presentations shown during the meeting represented several different areas of education, from technology inside and out of the classroom, to getting students up and moving during class.

Matthew Spreadbury, from Oak Forest High School, kicked off the night with “Creating a Technology-Driven Classroom Using Schoology.” Spreadbury said Schoology is much like Facebook, only with more control by the teach to drive discussion threats, post homework, assignments and review sheets. The tool also serves as a way for teachers to interact with students outside of the classroom.

Carissa Fetig, Hillcrest High School, and Paige Stryczek, Oak Forest High School, took center stage next, with their presentation entitled, “Thinking Outside the Box, Get Them Active in Learning.” The presentation centered on getting students up and active during class, with relay races, physical demonstrations and more.

Chuck Moore, Tinley Park High School, followed the duo with his presentation on improving students' writing: “Improving Student Writing … Seriously.” Moore centered his presentation on teaching students the proper ways to approach various essay writing styles and improving sentence structure within their writing.

Amber Guzak, Hillcrest, then hit the board with “Increase Your Chance for Positive PR,” which showcased using proper wording and phrasing in press releases to improve chances of media picking up a release and turning it into a story.

Finally, Carolin Snyder and Lisa Walsh, both from Hillcrest, closed out the presentation portion of the night with, “Race, Prejudice and Tolerance in the Classroom.” The pair is looking to reinforce the notion that students shouldn't judge classmates by their appearances.

After the presentations, the board voted on the top three. The winner will be notified Nov. 21, during the morning hours of the school day.

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