{"id":66441,"date":"2016-03-19T17:14:48","date_gmt":"2016-03-19T21:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=66441"},"modified":"2016-03-19T09:41:56","modified_gmt":"2016-03-19T13:41:56","slug":"hamilton-teacher-receives-national-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=66441","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton Teacher Receives National Award"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Katie<\/a>
Katie Jacobsen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hamilton third-grade teacher Katie Jacobsen has been named a PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator, an\u00a0honor presented to just 52 highly-qualified educators in the nation each year.<\/p>\n

The Digital Innovators program recognizes educators who are effectively incorporating digital media and\u00a0technology into the classroom and serving as leaders in integrating educational technology in the curriculum.<\/p>\n

One applicant from each U.S. state and territory were selected as Lead Digital Innovators through the\u00a0nationwide initiative.<\/p>\n

The award includes a three-day, all-expense trip to Denver for a national conference, a tablet, access to PBS LearningMedia digital content for use in her classroom and many opportunities to share her\u00a0work, experiences and best practices with colleagues around the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just blown away by the honor of receiving an award like this so early in my teaching career. I\u2019m really\u00a0excited about it,\u201d Jacobsen said. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s rewarding to find technology tools that really enhance student\u00a0learning. My mission is to use technology effectively, not just to make the classroom more flashy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton Superintendent Dr. Anael Alston said Jacobsen is a leader in the district in effectively using\u00a0technology in the classroom and she is always willing to share her skills, knowledge and ideas with her colleagues.<\/p>\n

“In this era of highly-prescribed teacher evaluations, it is refreshing to see that innovation, a passionate\u00a0pursuit of quality teaching, and student engagement are being recognized at the national level,\u201d Alston\u00a0said. \u201cMs. Jacobsen\u2019s efforts in her classroom represent what so many of her colleagues at HCS, and across\u00a0the country, do every day.”<\/p>\n

As part of her application, Jacobsen had to make a video about her digitally-focused classroom. Her video,\u00a0available on YouTube, features two key projects students worked on in the past year that integrated book\u00a0learning, research, writing and technology tools to produce interdisciplinary and collaborative works about\u00a0the rainforest and Monarch butterflies. Jacobsen created and narrated the video.<\/p>\n

She said having technology tools available to her through the district allows her to be flexible with her\u00a0projects and teaching methods. She tries to show her students that it\u2019s OK to take risks and experiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of using new technology tools is not being afraid to try new things,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m open with the kids\u00a0that sometimes things go well and sometimes technology doesn\u2019t work the way you wanted it too, and so you\u00a0try something else. But that willingness to think different and try new things is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

For as much technology as Jacobsen uses in the classroom, she maintains that those tools are just one strategy.<\/p>\n

“Technology is a balance. It has to be integrated well. I still want them to read paper books and use pencils,\u201d\u00a0she said. \u201cTechnology is an important tool, but not only one.\u201d<\/p>\n

To see the video: \u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SEiKGdLL52o<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hamilton third-grade teacher Katie Jacobsen has been named a PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator, an\u00a0honor presented to just 52 highly-qualified educators in the nation each year. The Digital Innovators program recognizes educators who are effectively incorporating digital media and\u00a0technology into the classroom and serving as leaders in integrating educational technology in the curriculum. One applicant from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/66443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}