UI Honors K-12 Teachers with Banquet and Nationally Acclaimed Educator
Friday, November 16 2001
November 16, 2001^MOSCOW – A banquet in Moscow tonight, with a nationally recognized guest speaker, will celebrate some 80 K-12 teachers from throughout northern Idaho and Spokane who mentor UI education students. The event also will celebrate Paula Conley, a fifth grade teacher from Skyway Elementary in Coeur d’Alene, this year’s winner of the UI’s $2,000 Thomas O. Bell Prize for excellence in elementary teaching.^Guest speaker will be Dave Johnson, professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota where he is co-director of the Cooperative Learning Center. Author of more than 40 books, Johnson will speak on the importance of the “cooperative classroom” and creative conflict resolution for school youths. For more on his topic, see www. http://www.co-operation.org/.^More than ever before, area K-12 master teachers are partnering with the UI College of Education to prepare new classroom teachers for their increasingly complex roles. “While our professors prepare students with the fundamentals, we count on classroom experts to share their wisdom and classroom realities,” said Dale Gentry, College of Education dean. “The banquet tonight at Moscow’s University Inn is “a token of our gratitude to these teachers.”^Johnson believes school years are important times for cooperative learning, which he describes as the “instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each others’ learning.” Students perceive that they can reach their learning goals, “if and only if the other students in the learning group also reach their goals.” ^Johnson sees conflicts as holding “considerable value when they are managed constructively. “ Students who learn how to deal with conflicts come away with “higher quality decision making, more complex reasoning skills, and they are much better able to deal with stress and unforeseen adversities,” says Johnson. “And who wouldn’t want to see a whole world of children with those benefits?” ^Also airing tonight will be a video celebrating the teaching skills of Paula Conley, a 26-year veteran of elementary school classrooms, whose students, peer teachers and parents of her students contributed to the video about what makes her a great teacher. Among other qualities, Conley brings to life U.S. History through extensive role playing, greets each student each morning with a handshake and smile, communicates often with parents, and stays in touch with her students years after they leave her classroom.^The following mentor teachers will be honored:^IDAHO^ATHOL Athol Elementary, Laura Bauman, Diane Riley, Darlene Frates^CATALDO Pinehurst Elementary, Patricia Alf^COEUR D’ALENE Borah Elementary – Mary Kaye Bartlett, Marla Nixon, Donna Weger, Cindi Ulen, Ann Cutler^ Bryan Elementary – Michelle Faucher-Sharples^ Canfield Middle – Tia D. Lockwood, Lyndon Harriman, Carol Kinsey, Andy Covington^ Cooper Elementary – Rhonda Ney^ Fernan Elementary – Sherma Higgs, Nancy Ison^ Frederick Post Kinder Center – Kristin Thiringer, Vicki Loberg^ Hayden Lake Elementary – Kathy Stanford, Mary Bologna^ Lakes Middle – Debra Batchelder, Roy Carlson^ Skyway Elementary – Tracy Mosgrove ^ Winton Elementary – Donna Grabenstein, Katie Rickerts, Kim Duncan^ Woodland Middle – Mary Lee Rush^ Woodlands Elementary – Joanne Rasmussen^GENESEE Genesee Elementary, Mary Whitcraft, Rhett Mahoney^GRANGEVILLE Grangeville High – Les Lieber, Michael D. Smith^KELLOGG Kellogg Middle – Kathy Sullivan-Orton, Sandy Harden^LEWISTON Lewiston Senior High, Wade Hillman, Nick Menegas, John Patterson^ Jenifer Junior High, Pamela Weenig^MOSCOW A.B. McDonald Elementary – Sue Bowe, Dan Peterson, Amy Thompson^ J. Russell Elementary – Linda Bradway^ Moscow Senior High - Melanie Siebhe, Mary Ann Thornton, Karla Harman, Debbie LeBlanc^ Moscow Junior High - Nancy Ruth Peterson, Judy Tunnicliff, Jason Albrecht, Gary Johnson^ St. Mary’s Catholic - Peggy Quesnell^NAPLES Washington Elementary - Wayne Stringfellow^POST FALLS Ponderosa Elementary - Gail Campbell, Paula Hearn^ Post Falls High - Jeri Anne Lee, Tracey Keylon^ Seltice Elementary - Laurie Buckel^POTLATCH Potlatch Junior-Senior High - Tom Yeoumans, Chris Yeoumans, Sandra K. Everett^ Potlatch Elementary - Gary Kampster^RATHDRUM Betty Kiefer Elementary – Tona Koch, Lisa Sexton^ Lakeland Junior High – Chris McDougall, Michael McKibbin^ John Brown Elementary – Fonda Mondoux, Vera Taggart^ST. MARIES Upriver Elementary - Jennifer Miller^SANDPOINT Sandpoint High - Debbie Smith, Marci Near, Marianne Love, Mike Llaime, ^ Sandpoint Middle - Michael Keough^SAGLE Sagle Elementary - Tim Hannah^TROY Troy Elementary - Karen Scharnhorst^WASHINGTON^MEAD Mount Spokane-Mead High - Jeanne Helfer^PULLMAN Franklin Elementary - Robert McPherson ^SPOKANE Colbert Elementary – Debbie Rose^Media Contact: Mary Ann Reese, media coordinator, (208) 885-2841, mreese@uidaho.edu, or Dale Gentry, dean, College of Education, (208) 885-6773, dgentry@uidaho.edu^NOTE: Members of the media are welcome to attend the banquet and speech. Please call Mary Ann Reese (above) or Lois Bradberry at (208) 885-6772. --30--(mar) 11/16/01 - EDU^Caption: David W. Johnson, noted author and cooperative learning expert from the University of Minnesota, will address Idaho mentor teachers at a banquet in Moscow tonight.
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