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MICHAEL JORDAN SHARES SPOTLIGHT WITH 400 TEACHERS

March 26, 2000

Michael Jordan, a man known around the world for taking the fundamentals of basketball to new heights, applauded the efforts of 400 teachers this month for their comparable focus on the fundamentals of education. In a ceremony at Washington, D.C.'s Eastern High School, Jordan and the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education awarded $2,500 grants to each teacher to fund specific projects they plan to launch in their classrooms. The group included 11 special education teachers from inner city and rural schools around the country.

The foundation, launched in 1969 by the National Education Association, and former Chicago Bulls star Jordan fund the Jordan Fundamentals Grants each spring and fall. The awards go to teachers and paraprofessionals in public secondary schools where at least 40 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced school lunches. Educators must apply for the grants, which support projects "that demonstrate instructional creativity and exemplify high learning standards for underserved students," the foundation says. The next deadline to apply for a Jordan Grant is May 15.

Four urban special education teachers in the Northeast won Jordan grants for a variety of projects. In Pittsburgh, Barbara New plans to teach secondary students about local transportation. Using the Internet, the students will research buses, taxis and planes, then follow that study with a trip on one of those modes of transportation. Gladys Bukowski, in Philadelphia, plans to use her grant to teach students about the veterans of World War II and Vietnam. The students will conduct personal interviews and collect information about their subjects on audio and videotape as well as in photographs. The students will also collect memorabilia about the wars and the veterans and present their findings to their school during a memorial dedication of a monument to veterans.

In New York, Hope Brennan's ninth through twelfth graders will launch "The McSweeney OTC Cooking Show." For the half-hour TV series, the students will write, produce, direct and film the segments, and they will demonstrate start-to-finish cooking procedures. Meanwhile in Baltimore, Perry Mark DeMarsico plans to teach eighth grade students projectile dynamics by constructing and launching model rockets. The students will explore the result of launching them at various degree angles to achieve maximum ground distance.

Five special ed. teachers in the south won grants. In Baton Rouge, La., Rose Powell-Coleman was awarded money to teach sixth to eighth grade students to use computer programs and customized exercises to develop speech awareness, skill building and patterning for oral language and reading. The students will use interactive multimedia tools to improve both receptive and expressive communication skills. Tammy Johnson Laughinghouse, of Greenville, N.C., will use her grant to help eleventh graders work in pairs and teams to learn how to find information on the Internet. They will also study the parts of the computer, terminology and basic commands for information retrieval. Meanwhile in Hattiesburg, Miss., Shawn Hampton won a grant to teach high school students greenhouse skills to help them get jobs in the plant nursery industry. The project will include hands-on tasks to develop horticultural skills and volunteer work experience in local businesses.

In Florida, Catherine Giles won a grant to enable sixth through eighth grade students to teach their parents how to find information on the Internet. Giles' students, in Miami, will also work with the local Museum of Science to find and evaluate science museum web sites. Meanwhile in Sebring, Fla., sixth to eighth grade students in Doloras Bevins' classes will start using audio books to increase their reading skills, listening comprehension, enunciation, intonation and other oratorical skills. By using audio books, Bevins hopes to eliminate distracting noises and provide more individualized activities using books with a variety of comprehension levels.

Books also play a key role in Gayle Hill-Starr's class, in Kansas City, Mo. With her Jordan grant, Hill-Star plans to institute a reading program for her eighth graders that includes meeting at a local ethnic restaurant to discuss various books. The project will promote both reading and awareness of other cultures in the community, and the students will be required to write to the books' authors to express their opinions and reactions.

Finally, in Saginaw, Mich., sixth grade teacher Lucy Fife plans to use her Jordan grant to put her students' classroom writing projects online to showcase their work. The students will learn how to format the written pieces for publication on the Internet and will work in peer groups to compose, store, edit and revise their work as they prepare it for publication.8