BLOOMINGTON – The Indiana University School of Education has announced seven Indiana public school teachers as the Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong Teacher Educators for the 2012-13 school year.
One of those teachers is Pamela J. Schumm, Biology I and honors biology teacher at Wawasee High School, Syracuse.
These select teachers participate in professional development opportunities and work with I.U. faculty and students studying to be teachers over the next year.
A committee of I.U. faculty, students and former recipients chooses the Armstrong teachers. The I.U. School of Education honored the seven during its annual Celebration of Teaching ceremony Friday.
“The Armstrong Teacher Educator program is fortunate to have seven of the very best teachers in Indiana this year,” said Pete Kloosterman, Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong Chair in Teacher Education. “I.U. students have always learned a great deal from Armstrong Teacher Educators, and there is no doubt that the new group will be able to pick up where this year’s cohort left off.”
Since 1997, superintendents and principals from around Indiana have nominated teachers for the Armstrong Teacher Educator award based on patterns of outstanding teaching and school leadership. The nominees must also demonstrate a potential to work effectively as mentors and role models for pre-service teachers.
The awards are made possible through the Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong Fund in Teacher Education, which also supports the Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong Chair in Teacher Education. Since the program started, more than 140 Indiana teachers have earned selection as Armstrong Teacher Educators. The select group has included many teachers recognized as outstanding in the field.
“I congratulate this year’s class of Armstrong Teachers,” said Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the School of Education. “They are among Indiana’s most effective teachers, and their selection will not only bring well-deserved recognition to their achievements, it will also put them in close contact with future generations of young teachers who will be inspired by and learn from their success.”
Schumm is a recipient of 13 academic honors or special teacher awards in her school corporation, according to a provided press release. Schumm is unafraid to try unique ideas to drive home biology concepts. She often employs songs as well as group work, projects, demonstrations, technology and field trips to help students learn.
“Several times a trimester you can hear my students singing a ‘biology song,’” she said. “I still have former students tell me they remember some of the songs we sang.”
Schumm said she challenges her students but provides very real environments to study biology, such as taking students onto Lake Wawasee to study a watershed, examining owl pellets to discern the bird’s diet, and conducting forensics studies on hair and fiber samples.
The Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong Fund in Teacher Education was established through a gift from the Cook Group Cos. of Bloomington. In 1996, Bill and Gayle Cook designated a $1 million gift to honor longtime I.U. Foundation President Bill Armstrong and his wife, Martha Lea. The Armstrongs asked that the gift support Indiana’s teachers and worked with the Cooks and the School of Education to develop the program.
In memory of Bill Cook, who died on April 15, 2011, the Cook family designated memorial donations be directed to the Armstrong Fund.
