Governor launches Innovation in Teaching online resources
Georgia Public Broadcasting-produced videos will serve as a model for teachers statewide
Gov. Nathan Deal and the Office of Student Achievement today launched a series of online videos, unit plans and supplementary materials featuring this year’s winners of the Innovation in Teaching competition, a recognition and reward opportunity for teachers who demonstrate innovative teaching strategies for the Georgia standards in English/Language Arts and Mathematics.
“The classroom teacher has the single biggest impact on learning, and these online resources will give teachers statewide access to award-winning techniques and practices,” Deal said. “This is yet another opportunity for us to increase the quality and quantity of our digital learning resources and to ensure that our students are college or career ready.”
Georgia Public Broadcasting filmed Innovation in Teaching award-winning teachers in their classroom environments while they presented lesson plans designed to help other teachers and students across the state. These online resources represent a variety of grade levels and innovative strategies, from project-based and applied learning to differentiated small group instruction and creative classroom management techniques. Competition winners also received a $2,000 stipend while their schools received a $5,000 grant.
The Innovation in Teaching competition is available through Georgia’s Innovation Fund, a competitive grant program. To learn more about the competition, visit the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement’s website.
About the Innovation Fund
The Innovation Fund began as a $19.4 million fund under Georgia’s Race to the Top plan. During Race to the Top, the Innovation Fund provided 23 grants to programs focused on providing applied learning opportunities to students, creating teacher and leader induction programs, growing the teacher and leader pipeline, and developing or expanding charter schools. Most of these grantees will receive grant funds through June 30, 2015. To continue the Innovation Fund’s work beyond Race to the Top, Gov. Deal included $5 million in his Fiscal Year 2015 budget that the legislature approved. These funds will be awarded to eligible organizations focused on planning, scaling or implementing innovative education programs focused on the following areas: applied learning with a focus on STEM education, development and replication of blending learning school models, development and replication of innovative resource management models, and teacher and leader induction. The state will also seek contributions from philanthropic organizations, nonprofits and businesses as a continuing source of start-up capital for promising innovations.
Sasha Dlugolenski
Merry Hunter Hipp