Educational website helps students build their vocabulary while having fun

Friendly online competition also promotes team spirit, as schools band together to beat their cross-town rivals

HISD’s Bellaire and Chávez high schools usually face off against each other on the football field or the basketball court, but this year, those campuses are taking their rivalry to the Internet, and fighting for dominance in a more ethereal realm.

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eNews Highlight: Meet the Carnegie senior who’s applying to 23 colleges

Read why this EMERGE student is keeping her options open in this week’s edition

While most seniors are fine-tuning a short list of colleges and universities they might want to attend, one student at HISD’s Carnegie Vanguard High School is doing exactly the opposite. Learn why Olaide Sode is pushing herself to apply to almost two dozen different schools, and how the EMERGE program is helping Olaide and other economically disadvantaged students to reach for the stars in the Nov. 7, 2014, edition of eNews.

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Longfellow ES students to showcase ‘The Leader in Me’ qualities

Longfellow Elementary students are cultivating a sense of personal responsibility and leadership skills through the “The Leader in Me” program. The school, located at 3671 Norris in southwest Houston, will showcase those qualities in a special program from 9–11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13.

“’The Leader in Me’ provides the most solid foundation I have ever seen to help kids lead a principled, centered life,” said Longfellow ES Principal Norma Perez-Gwynn. “It has made an incredible difference with our children.” Continue reading

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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Former ACP Teacher of the Year now has his eyes on the Fishman Prize

Physics teacher Adeeb Barqawi works with his students at Kashmere High School, April 14, 2014. (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)

Physics teacher Adeeb Barqawi works with his students at Kashmere High School on April 14, 2014.

When Adeeb Barqawi first started teaching during the 2012–2013 school year, he had no idea how quickly success would come to him.

But in June of 2013, he was named the Alternative Certification Program Teacher of the Year for the entire State of Texas, and the following February, his approach to instruction was highlighted in a Breakthroughs feature of the district’s eNews publication. This led to accolades from the mayor and Houston City Council in April of 2014, and now, the high school physics instructor is hoping the combination of his teaching philosophy and his students’ achievements will bring him recognition on the national stage. Continue reading

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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Jones HS joins forces with UN Women to ‘wipe out’ Ebola

When America’s first confirmed case of Ebola was diagnosed last month in Dallas, many Houstonians sat up and took notice, as that north-Texas city is located only about 240 miles away.

But students at HISD’s Jones Futures Academy have turned their alarm into action by launching a “Wipe Out” campaign to collect hand sanitizer, bleach, antibiotic wet wipes, gloves, and antibacterial soaps for shipment to Liberia, one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa.

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Video: An inside look at the design process for Lamar HS

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In a new video, members of Lamar High School’s Project Advisory Team (PAT) discuss the planning and design process of the new Lamar High School, which will combine 21st century educational strategies with 21st century architecture.

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