Mrs. Hull

04/16/2010 - Brian Donato

Congratulations to Brian Donato for being this week's Geek of the Week!

From revamping the student counsel website, to learning new technologies, to keeping the public informed about all the great things happening at Watertown Middle School, to making it easier for teachers to know which student photos to publish on the web - Brian is an asset to our school.

Congratulations Brian for being Geek of the Week! We truly appreciate all that you do!

04/09/2010 - Karla Nihal

Kudos to Karly Nihal for taking the plunge and trying something new! Watch out Steven Spielberg because we have a budding Academy Award winning filmmaker waiting in the wings. This week Karly had her beginning ELL students turn their research projects into movies using Windows Movie Maker and uploaded the finished projects to the class wikispace. "The Endangered Species" movies will premier at the next school committee meeting. Come support the ELL department or watch the movies live on television.

Congratulations Karly for being Geek of the Week!

03/26/2010 - Evelyn Fuchs

Congratulations to Evelyn Fuchs the Geek of the Week! Being among the first to embrace new and different forms of technology, Evelyn Fuchs is an example and mentor to her fellow teachers at WMS. Her exceptional math and computers skills and her willingness to take risks have led to a seamless integration of technology in her math classes. Evelyn’s website is top notch, full of resources, links, and information. A highlight on her site is “Mrs. Fuchs’s Homework Help Blog” where she asks her students to blog her with questions that she in turn responds to by posting on her Blog Responses page. She is also a master of the Microsoft Office program Excel and can often be found helping teachers effectively integrate it into their lesson plans. Evelyn inspires teachers and students to be successful and to give their best effort. Congratulations Evelyn for being Geek of the Week! You are truly an asset to our school!

03/19/2010 - Congratulations to Karen MacAulay for being Geek of the Week!

Week after week Karen MacAulay looks for new ways to align her curriculum to technology. From Gizmos, to Wikispaces, Virtual Assessments, to webquests, to redesigning her classroom website, to teaching her students how to create videos with Flip Share software, Karen always finds ways to bring 21st century learning to her students. She is an excellent example of managing her Tech Team and setting an example to her students and colleagues of how to take care of computers. She can often be found in the Learning Commons plugging in laptops and computer carts at the end of the day to make sure carts and computers are charged and ready for the next teacher who has them signed out. Please congratulate Karen for being the GEEK OF THE WEEK!

03/05/2010 - Tom Johnson & Ginny Walsh

Congratulations to our fearless PE teachers - Tom Johnson and Ginny Walsh for being the Geeks of the Week.

For several weeks, Tom and Ginny have used technology to increase students‚ personal fitness levels, physical activity, muscular strength,and engagement through the use of Polar Heart Rate monitors, the Geo Dance Fit program, and our new high-tech WMS Fitness Center. Through regular use of the Polar Heart Rate monitors, Tom and Ginny have measured student performance and targeted individual heart rates for each student. Students are aware of their personal expectations and can monitor their own physical activity levels during PE. The personal heart rate of each student is recorded and downloaded into handheld computers, creating individualized heart rate reports per student. Walking by their classrooms this week, students and teachers were also found dancing their hearts out as they "Jammed with Jay." Jay, the aerobics instructor, was projected on a gigantic gym wall and motivated the students with easy to follow dance steps. The aerobics instructor, Tom & Ginny and mats gave students directional cues that allowed everyone to participate.

Through the use of elliptical machines, rowers, spin bikes, strength training equipment and the aerobics room, students are also exposed to a wide variety of machines in the new WMS Fitness Center. These machines allow students to increase and improve their personal fitness levels by tracking students' effort. Congratulations for your effective use and integration of technology Tom and Ginny. You truly are awesome Geeks of the Week! Please be sure to give them high fives today and all next week!

02/26/2010 - Phil Oates
Congratulations Phil Oates for being the Geek of the Week!

Phil frequently uses technology - laptop computers, an LCD projector, virtual learning environments, and his website - to engage his students and to help them learn and understand Algebra and Geometry. This week Phil taught his students the effect of changing slopes and y-intercepts of linear functions. In this interactive lesson, students were engaged as Phil called on students to predict and draw the graphs of lines after changing the slopes and y-intercepts on the white board. Once the student drew his or her prediction the slope would immediately bounce up and appear on the white board to show if the student was correct. After working together as a class, students checked out personal laptop computers and completed a worksheet with several y and x linear functions; first making their predictions and then having the slopes appear on their individual computer screens. Through the use of technology and other techniques Phil taught his students how changing the slope will affect a graph. Great work Phil! Please stop by and congratulate Phil on his stellar teaching and for being the Geek of the Week!

02/12/2010 - Elizabeth Kaplan

Congratulations to Elizabeth Kaplan for a content rich, technology filled week! From webquests to podcasts to blogging to embedded slideshows, Elizabeth Kaplan effectively integrated several Web 2.0 tools and engaged her students. For one of her projects this week, Elizabeth’s 7th grade science class created an employment advertisement for a cell organelle. In this “Help Wanted” ad her students described the open job position, job description, knowledge and skills needed to perform the job duties, and how the organelle was to be paid. Since cells do not use money, students had to use their higher order thinking skills and be creative when describing the organelles’ compensation and benefits. Students then used GarageBand and turned their advertisements into radio commercials and posted them to the class wiki created by Elizabeth. She then linked the wiki to her teacher website. Congratulations Elizabeth for being Geek of the Week! Be sure to stop by and congratulate her!

02/05/2010 - Sam Morris, Whitney McKnight, Dan Skop

CONGRATULATIONS to SAM MORRIS, WHITNEY MCKNIGHT, AND DAN SKOP – THIS WEEK’S GEEK(s) OF THE WEEK! Sam, Whitney, and Dan’s 8_th grade Humanities students are researching a dynasty in ancient China, creating virtual scrapbooks, and publishing their work online – complete with beautiful drawings, ancient maps, and well written articles. The students are writing in-depth newspaper articles describing the inventions, clothing, food, emperor, and other famous people of the dynasty and showcasing their knowledge by publishing their work to an online public blogging site. Students and teachers give instant feedback by commenting on the articles published to the blogs. These geeks have also taught their students how to cite their sources using on online bibliography source.Congratulations to three awesome Geeks who continually implement and effectively integrate technology in their classrooms. Please stop by and congratulate them!

01/29/2010 - Kerri Lorigan & Lisa McDonagh This week seventh graders had an opportunity to take a tour down the river Nile. Kerri Lorigan, Lisa McDonagh, and several others collaborated together and created a powerful PowerPoint presentation that transformed their classrooms into an unforgettable experience. Some teachers could even be found wearing period attire and long wigs. Due to the warm climate, classrooms were dark and misty and participants often had small beads of sweat on their foreheads. But the most powerful piece of the experience was Kerri and Lisa's effective integration of audio, music, photographs, maps, and their thoughtful PowerPoint presentation. Well done! Congratulations to two Geeks who have embraced technology in several ways this year. Please stop by and congratulate them!

01/22/2010 - Deb Kelly

Congratulations Deborah Kelly for being the GEEK OF THE WEEK! This week Deb created a class wikispace and had her students upload podcasts of their essays. Deb is excited about learning new web 2.0 technologies; she continually looks for ways to effectively integrate technology into her curriculum. Congratulations Deb! Please be sure to congratulate her the next time you see her!

01/15/2010 - Kara Conceison

Congratulations Kara Conceison for being the Geek of the Week! Over the past few weeks, Kara’s 6th grade English class created, wrote, and illustrated their very own children’s books. For the culminating project, Kara decided to celebrate and share the final results of her students’ books via Skype. Her students enthusiastically and eagerly read their stories to 1st and 2nd grade students at Cunniff elementary school. In turn, some Cunniff students read their stories to the 6th graders at WMS. Questions were asked and all were engaged. There was a buzz of excitement in the classroom. Kara, her students, and several others look forward to continued collaboration with schools in the district and around the world! Congratulations Kara for receiving Geek of the Week!

01/08/2010 - Lyall Croft
Congratulations to Lyall Croft – Geek of the Week at Watertown Middle School. This week Lyall created a Humanities website for his class. He also guided his students through the research process and taught them how to use an online bibliography composer. Students organized their notes and stored their information on the Web. Please congratulate Lyall the next time you see him!

12/18/2009 - Owen Conneely

Congratulations Owen Conneely for receiving the Geek of the Week award!

In a short amount of time, Owen learned a complex desktop publishing program and he and Lyall Croft distributed the first issue of the school newspaper The Splash to WMS. Please be sure to congratulate him when you see him next week!

12/11/2009 - Claire Regan
A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Claire Regan for receiving the Geek of the Week award. Claire taught her students how to set up individual portfolios on a wikispace. The students record themselves reading aloud and then upload sound files to their page. Claire uses wikispaces as a great tool for tracking her students’ fluency practice and for letting them track it themselves. Great work Claire! Please stop by her classroom this week and congratulate her on her achievement.

12/4/2009 - Kat Dias

Congratulations to Kat Dias for being the first recipient of our new Geek of the Week award. This week she spent many extra hours embracing technology and effectively aligning her curriculum to it by not only learning Noodle Tools but also teaching it to her students. Kat loves high fives, please stop by her classroom and congratulate her on her achievement! CONGRATULATIONS KAT!

If you know someone deserving of this award, please email your nomination to Lindsay Hull.

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