ABOUT AMBASSADOR CHERYL POAGE:
Cheryl is an AVID Coordinator for Hillsborough County Schools, where she teaches at Franklin Boys Preparatory Academy, a Magnet Middle School. AVID is a College and Career Readiness Program.
Cheryl’s goal is to give students the tools needed to make them successful as they strive to reach their goals of higher level education. She integrates technology and PBL into the curriculum in order to give them real world experiences. As she does these things, she integrates various content areas into the AVID curriculum. This year Cheryl’s class will be working on a Community Service Learning Project that will allow her students to become puppy raisers for Paws for Patriots.
Cheryl’s personal accomplishments include being a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, the recipient of the Golden Apple Award for Andover Public Schools in Andover, Kansas, and the recipient of the Unsung Hero Award for Randall Middle.
Follow me on Twitter @TeacherOnTheRun
CLASSROOM MOTTO:
“Dream BIG.”
PROUDEST MOMENT OF YOUR EDUCATION CAREER:
My proudest moment as an educator was a year when I had three blocks of lower level students –many of whom had never been in a mainstream Language Arts classroom. These students came in with disdain for reading and writing. Instead of “bellwork” activities that year, I had them come in and have “Reading Zone” every day. We found books of interest together and the students just came in and read EVERY day without exception. When they finished a book, they talked about the book to me, then they put a star on a chart next to their name on a chart. We had a visual every day, and before long the kids wanted to read more and more to get that star. They gave each other ideas for new books to read, they kept a list of books that sounded interesting. By the end of the year, my 65 non-readers read 2011 books. It was incredible! The best part was listening to students who never picked up a book telling me they now loved to read.
WHY DID YOU WANT TO BECOME A BUNCEE AMBASSADOR?
I heard about Buncee this summer at an EdCamp, then had the opportunity to sit in on a session during the ST4T Conference. After that, I went home and played with it and was sold! I have used it this school year to present my lessons. I have used it at home for invitations and cards, and on my Twitter page to #CelebrateMonday. I love the ease and versatility with Buncee.
I also find the customer service to be above and beyond the norm, and that is so important to me.
Recently, I introduced Buncee to my students as an option to Keynote and PowerPoint and they were able to get on and create their own slides for a green screen with minimal instruction.
In this coming year, I plan to use Buncee as our main presentation mode when creating our final projects for our Service Learning Project with Paws for Patriots. In addition, I am hoping to have my students come out to a PD with my staff and introduce Buncee to them to show its ease and range of use for a variety of projects.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE BUNCEES?
