|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
TeachersKBAY Teacher of the MonthNominate teacher for KBAY’s Teacher of the Month Click here to see who was named KBAY’s Teacher of the Month in prior months
It excites me even further to engage students in a conversation about their own passions and abilities and how they can share those with the rest of the world. Teaching history and psychology are subjects that allow me to engage students in meaningful learning experiences that connect to the realities of their world.” Polly and her colleagues will use their SVEF grant to take students to see a production of a play that they will be studying in class. “The Silicon Valley Education Foundation Innovation Grant will allow us to use the literature of the play as a vehicle to teach language arts standards; to teach living skills to students with limited experience or opportunities to get these skills on their own. In other words—study the play, learn manners, go to lunch, go to the play—create a project that demonstrates what we learned: write, write, write our hearts out!” “Ocala is a grade 6-8 middle school in the Alum Rock District. My students are 100% free lunch students. I teach 8th grade language arts to the lowest level of 8th grade learners and I use a wide variety of ways to make English “come alive” for these students. This project will help do that.” Polly says that the biggest challenge in teaching is, “people who spend all day telling me why things can’t be done. I believe that everyday we create our own miracles. A bumblebee should not be able to fly; but everyday he does. I want to be that bee—creating my own possibilities out of the impossible. Congratulations to Polly Underwood, KBAY’s Teacher of the Month for January. |
The KBAY Teacher of the Month is Polly Underwood, who teaches 8th grade English-Language Arts at Ocala Middle School in the Alum Rock Union School District. Polly has taught a broad spectrum of courses in her 28 years at Ocala ranging from Band to English; Math to Social Studies.. Polly and a group of colleagues will receive a Teacher Innovation Grant for their classes from the Silicon Valley Education Foundation.