Schools

Plainfield Teachers Receive Professional Development Grants

Eleven teachers chosen for Plainfield Foundation for Excellence honor.

Submitted by District 202:

The Plainfield Foundation for Excellence will give 11 District 202 teachers up to $500 each in the form of “Professional Development Awards” to help them pursue special projects this summer to help improve their classroom knowledge and skills. 

The Foundation for Excellence created the Professional Development Awards three years ago to help individual teachers in the classroom. The Foundation received 60 applications this year.

The awards can be used to pay for registration fees, tuition, conference/class related materials, travel, lodging, meals or other professional development expenses for classes or programs to be taken in summer 2014.

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This year’s winning teachers represent each “House” (District 202’s internal feeder system that organizes schools by high school) and each educational level. As well, the awards were chosen to support a broad range of professional development areas.

The 2014 Professional Development Award winners are:

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Eric Danforth, Aux Sable Middle School – Danforth will visit and the National Archives in Philadelphia and take part in its “Docs Teach” program to learn how to better use documents in classroom instruction.

Gail Epley, Creekside Elementary School – Epley will take an online course called, “Connecting Art to the Common Core” to make cross-curricular connections through art to help student learning.

Maggie Gurrister, Deana Lunn and Tracey Newberry, Plainfield Academy – All three will take an online course titled, “Across the Spectrum: Teaching Students with Autism” to better support their student populations.

Mary Markwell, Heritage Grove Middle School – Markwell will attend the American Library Association Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas.

Ann Smelser, Ridge Elementary School – Smelser will attend the Suburban Council of International Reading Association summer conference in Skokie, Illinois to gain Common Core literacy understanding.

Beth Trudelle, Eichelberger and Crystal Lawns elementary schools – Trudelle will take part in the Orff Schulwerk teacher training program at Vandercook College of Music in Chicago to learn how to help students become lifelong musicians and creative problem solvers through the performing arts, speech and creativity-centered play.

Emily Tonon, Plainfield East High School – Tonon will attend the AP Summer Institute: Teachers as Artists program at Columbia College in Chicago, to learn how to help students develop skills to be successful in AP Studio Art classes.

Nicole Walker, Plainfield High School—Central Campus – Walker will attend the Fermi Lab Summer Secondary Physics Institute focusing on engineering applications, to learn how to connect traditional physics curriculum and Next Generation Science Standards.

Carrie Wolseley, Timber Ridge Middle School – Wolseley will attend the “Science in the Rockies” program in Denver, to learn how to expose students to more “hands-on” science while integrating Common Core standards into the curriculum.

“We are very impressed with the wide range of opportunities for our teachers to improve their knowledge and classroom skills, and our teachers’ interest in doing everything they can to be the best they can be in their classrooms,” said Foundation Chairperson Margie Bonuchi.

The Foundation for Excellence is a private organization that has been supporting District 202 schools, students and staff with grants, scholarships and financial support for special programming for 30 years.

Along with scholarships and grants, the Foundation has also supported special District 202 programs including a District Art Gallery, the Great Read community reading program and the 1847 Schoolhouse Restoration.

For more information about the Plainfield Foundation for Excellence or to make a donation, please visit: www.d202foundation.org



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