06/01/2012
Corrie Kelly (M.Ed.‘10 C&I), a reading specialist at Woodbrook Elementary School, is the 2012 recipient of the Red Apple Award, bestowed each year by the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council (CBIC). The award includes a $2,500 Technology in Education grant to be used to further the use of technology in the classroom.
According to the Council, the award is presented to the “K-12 educator who clearly and consistently is able to do the most with available resources to inspire and prepare students for the limitless possibilities in technology.” Among Ms. Kelly’s achievements cited by CIBC was the use of QR codes, Skype and blogs by her students to collaborate with classrooms throughout the nation and around the world. “Establishing global learning partners is opening new pathways of connecting, communicating and collaborating for Woodbrook students,” CIBC says.
“Technology is a wonderful classroom resource,” according to Ms. Kelly. “What I have found is that all students, regardless of grade level, respond very well to the opportunities that technology provides to be creative and problem-solve. My experience is if you give a second-grader and a fifth-grader a similar problem, the outcome will be similar. They both will be successful,” she added.
Ms. Kelly notes that technology often teaches many other skills, and she pointed to QR codes as an example. Since the codes limit the number of characters that can be utilized, students learn to write analytically, in a highly succinct yet expressive manner.
Ms. Kelly says she would like to use the technology in education grant to expand the school’s engagement with its communities both inside the school and with external partners.
In addition to being a reading specialist, Ms. Kelly is a co-facilitator of the Woodbrook’s Tech Club and an adjunct instructor with the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education.
CIBC is a membership-based and non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the role of entrepreneurship and innovation to advance the greater Charlottesville region’s economy and culture. It supports businesses by providing networking, visibility, promotion, education and advocacy opportunities.
Courtesy of Albemarle County Public Schools Office of Strategic Communications
