Category Archives: District I – Elizabeth Santos

Advanced Placement teacher named to national AP Advocates Program

Diane Morrow teaches an AP English class at Davis High School, April 14, 2014. (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)

Diane Morrow teaches an AP English class at Davis High School, April 14, 2014.

As an Advanced Placement literature and language teacher at Davis High School, Diana Morrow takes pride in challenging and pushing her students to pursue rigorous coursework in order to prepare them for life after high school.

“I tell my students this is going to be the hardest class they’ll take in their life,” Morrow said. “They need this class to understand analyzing, synthesizing, how to defend an argument, how to write. These are the skills they need for college. So, I have such a big responsibility to help these kids be successful.” Continue reading →

HISD students participate in first-ever UH Special Olympics Basketball Camp

Basketballs were flying around the Hofheinz Pavilion on Nov. 10, as more than 50 HISD students with special needs got to meet and play basketball with coaches and student-athletes from the University of Houston (UH) men’s basketball program.

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For the first UH Special Olympics Basketball Camp, Cougar coaches and players set up six stations on the pavilion’s basketball court, and middle-school students practiced shooting, dribbling, passing, and other fundamentals. Continue reading →

HISD schools honor veterans

(Houston Independent School District)

Mrs. Petry’s first-grade class at Lyons ES hold letters they’re sending to veterans

Students at Lyons Elementary are thanking the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, and they’re hoping to develop a continuing relationship with members of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Students in Nekia Petry’s first-grade class wrote thank-you notes to members of the U.S. Coast Guard National Command Center in Washington, D.C. Their goal is to become pen pals with service members so they can learn about service, honor, country, and dedication while also work on improving their writing skills. Continue reading →

HISD announces district’s holiday greeting card artwork for 2014

Designs are also available for purchase by the general public through Friday, Dec. 5

Each winter, HISD sends out holiday greeting cards to hundreds of people and organizations, including school principals, board members, legislators, local leaders, parent groups, and community partners. Since 2003, these cards have featured the artwork of district students, and this year, three designs were chosen to showcase their creative talents.

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Video highlights design for new Davis HS with ‘eye toward the future’

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A new video released by HISD highlights the planning and final design images for the new 21st century Davis High School. The campus is one of 40 facilities being rebuilt or renovated under the $1.89 billion bond program approved by voters in 2012.

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Students building robots, writing code in district STEM programs

In the sixth grade, Clifton Middle School student DK Lacy built a robotic hand in his computer science class. In the seventh grade, he helped his classmates build a life-size robot. Three months into his eighth-grade year, he’s already worked on a class project to create a 3-D printer by disassembling three different computers. But he says his greatest creation is yet to come.

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“I love to build things, and I want to make things one day that not many people have made – a car that runs on an alternative resource like dirt or water or a smartphone for the blind to help my dad,” said DK, a student in Clifton’s magnet program for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). STEM is one of several magnet program areas to choose from on HISD’s new magnet application for the next school year.
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Wainwright ES educator helping her students ‘embrace the struggle’

In this edition of I Am HISD, which features district students, graduates, employees, and other members of Team HISD, we talk to Wainwright ES teacher Jennifer Hannah about what got her into the field of education, how the Effective Teacher Fellowship helped prepare her for the classroom, and why she inspires her fourth-graders to engage in “productive struggle” when writing.

Jennifer Hannah poses for a photograph at Wainwright Elementary School, November 6, 2014. (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)
You’ve already accomplished a great deal academically and professionally. You’ve earned a master’s degree in creative writing, freelanced as a writer and researcher for McDougal Littell, taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston, and even written a number of children’s books. What inspired you to go into the classroom?

A couple of things. For three years, I taught freshman composition and rhetoric at UH. I really was surprised at how much I liked talking and thinking and learning about writing. Teaching was a way for me to think about writing in a way that I hadn’t before, and I loved that. Then, when my children started going to preschool, I visited a lot of classrooms to find the best schools for them, and I noticed that once I picked their schools and was involved in volunteering, I never wanted to leave. I liked seeing how busy and occupied children could be when they were learning.

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‘First Generation’ documentary inspires students to see college as a possibility

The national “Go College!” tour made stops at Worthing, Sharpstown International, Sharpstown, and Sam Houston high schools this week to show students that they can go to college regardless of the challenges they may face at home. The tour features a screening of the documentary film, First Generation, which tells the story of four high school students who aspire to break their family’s cycle of poverty by pursuing a college education.

“College is so different from high school,” said Dontay Gray, a cast member in the film who spoke to students briefly after the screening at Sharpstown on Tuesday. “And as a first generation college student, I was really on my own. I had to find people who were like-minded and had similar goals to mine, so that I could stay focused.”
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Contractors, HISD Supplier Diversity department host networking event for Davis HS project

H.J. Russell & Co. representatives meet with subcontractors to discuss opportunities on the rebuilding of Davis High School.

HISD’s Business Assistance – Supplier Diversity Department, along with representatives from H.J. Russell & Global Momentum, hosted a meet and greet recently at the Hattie Mae White building to give contractor attendees the opportunity to network and discuss requirements for the upcoming bond construction project at Davis High School.

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