Congratulations to our latest Field Trainers of the Month! This team of Dakota State University professors is putting Thinkfinity into the hands of teachers so they are ready to use Thinkfinity resources as they enter the classroom.
Jennifer Gross worked with middle school/high school science teachers and the Imagination Summer Program for students in grades 2-6. Vicki Sterling's reading program has been a study in incorporating reading strategies into all content subjects. Don Wiken has been focused on visual literacy in the math area for students in the K-8 classroom. The three of them and Mark Geary join forces to train the DSU education students in Thinkfinity. The students receive introduction to Thinkfinity in methods classes, but the complete training taken the semester before student teaching.
Vicki teaches the reading and language arts method classes at Dakota State. She has been combining the teaching of reading and technology for 25 years.
“Reading and writing takes practice and the technology helps motivate students.” Over the years, She has been able to present at TIE for many years, the reading council at the state, regional, national and international level and in many towns across South Dakota. Vicki states, “Thinkfinity has been exciting to use because of the wealth of resources for the teacher and student.”
Jennifer Gross is part of College of Education Faculty at DSU as the science education specialist. She teaches science method courses for K-12 pre-service teachers as well as science content courses. Jennifer states, “I love to use and share the resources of Thinkfinity with my college students because it is free and has amazing resources for almost any audience interested in education – children, parents, teaches, pre-service teachers, and the general public. “
Don Wiken teaches the math education courses in the college of education at DSU. He states, “Thinkfinity is an excellent online resource which I use in my classes to demonstrate some of the online interactive tools available. We also do an end of the semester training session for our students who are going to be student teaching in the coming semester. It is a great resource.”
Congratulations to:
Pam Lange
TIE Education Technology Specialist
Rapid City, SD
Pam Lange is an Education Technology Specialist for TIE, an Education Service Agent for ESA 7 in South Dakota, and the project leader for the Wyoming Assessment Institute and Body of Evidence Work Institute for the State of Wyoming. “I’m excited about Thinkfinity and all it offers for teachers. I’m always looking for resources to use in my professional development trainings and this website opens the doors for those opportunities.”
Some comments from her participants:
“Pam is great at walking you through the program without overwhelming!”
“Pam did an excellent job in presenting information. I enjoyed the program and she was very helpful.”
Congratulations to:
Sally Jankord and Laura O'Connor
Haakon School District
Philip, SD
Sally Jankord has taught in western SD for about 35 years in upper elementary and junior high reading and English.
Laura O'Connor is in her seventh year of teaching. She began her career as a seventh grade English teacher at Hot Springs Middle School and is currently in her fourth year of teaching 9-12 English at Philip High School.
Both ladies are excited to incorporate into their classrooms the vast variety of resources located on the Thinkfinity educational site.
Mark has been a educator for over twenty five years, working with at-risk students during much of his career. As a teacher, technology integrationist, literacy specialist administrator and professor, Mark has looked for ways to improve literacy skills through the effective use of technology. He loves Thinkfinity, because it is a fantastic time SAVER when it comes to integrating technology.
Mark’s activities and work include:
Wilderness counselor for behavior disordered students
Teacher of behavior disordered HS students
Teacher for at-risk middle school students
Technology Integrationist for 8 years
Literacy/Technology Fellow at U of Central Florida
Administrator at a charter high school in Cincinnati
Literacy Trainer for Ohio SIRI initiative
We have 38 active Field Trainers in the state of SD at this time. The goal is to have at least one field trainer in every building in every district as well as professors as trainers in the pre-service programs at each of the state universities.
Sheryl provided a Thinkfinity Field Training to 18 of her peers on November 12, 2008. One of the comments from a participant:
“Sheryl Larson did a great job! Big crowd and she was very informed and familiar with Thinkfinity.”
Congratulations Sheryl on being named the first SD Field Trainer of the Month!
Sheryl Larson is a fifth grade teacher in the Chamberlain School District. She teaches language arts/reading and science. In addition for being “tech training junky”, Sheryl is nationally certified in Early Childhood, Middle Childhood Literacy: Reading / Language Arts. This fall she enjoyed her forty-third first day of school (starting with kindergarten).
