Tennessee Code Academy has four computer programming workshops scheduled for students ages 12 to 18 this month, with two in Knoxville and two in Oak Ridge.
The first two workshops in Knoxville will be hosted at the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center on October 13 and 14.
Tech 20/20 will host two workshops in Oak Ridge on October 16 and 17.
These workshops will focus on web design and the Python programming language, a press release said. [Read more…]
Various Oak Ridge Schools will join schools from around the world to celebrate International Walk to School Day on Wednesday, October 8.
Students from Jefferson Middle School will be walking to school along with parents, teachers, and some very special guests from a local restaurant.
The JMS event will begin at 6:50 a.m. with kids, parents, and community leaders meeting at National Fitness Center. Walkers will meet at NFC and will walk via sidewalks to JMS.
Other special activities associated with the walk include a visit from the Chik-Fil-A Cows. Chik-Fil-A is also donating coupons for all the participants of National Walk to School Day at JMS. [Read more…]
Aaron Wells
Aaron Wells, a lifelong Oak Ridger and president of the Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge, is running for Oak Ridge Board of Education in the November 4 municipal election, a press release said.
“Over the last two decades, I have spent countless hours coaching, mentoring, and fundraising for the youth in our town,” Wells said in the release. “After much prayer and discussion, my wife Melissa and I made the decision that I would run for school board.”
If elected, Wells said he will focus on achieving four priorities.
“First and foremost, I commit to truly listen to our teachers and integrate their feedback into all of my decisions,” Wells said. “Teachers are the lifeblood of our schools, and they know better than anyone how to make our students successful. We can no longer afford to ignore their invaluable feedback and concerns. The Board of Education must fight to restore to them the freedom they need to do what they do best—inspire and educate our children.” [Read more…]
Jo Bruce
Jo Bruce, director of the Family Resource Center at Oak Ridge Schools, will discuss “Breaking the Cycle of Violence” during a Monday morning forum in Oak Ridge.
The community forum starts at 11 a.m. Monday, October 6, in the fellowship Hall of Grace Covenant Church, Trinity Center, at 320 Robertsville Road. It’s presented by the Women’s Interfaith Dialogue of Oak Ridge.
Bruce has held the director’s position at the Resource Center since its inception, a press release said. The local center, housed in Willow Brook Elementary School, is one of the original family resource centers established by the state of Tennessee in the fall of 1993.
In a summary of her presentation, Bruce said she will discuss the services she provides to families and students of the Oak Ridge school system in an effort to build trust and resilience. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Associated Universities will have its Extreme Classroom Makeover for the seventh year. Teachers within 50 miles of Oak Ridge can file an intent to apply by October 15. (Image courtesy ORAU)
Local teachers within 50-mile radius encouraged to file intent to apply by Oct. 15
Oak Ridge Associated Universities is now accepting applications for its $25,000 Extreme Classroom Makeover competition. Now in its seventh year, the competition provides the latest educational technologies to update one teacher’s classroom. Interested teachers must file their intent to apply no later than October 15.
The contest is open to public school math and science teachers who teach grades third through 10th and are located within a 50-mile radius of Oak Ridge. Entrants must have the written consent of their principals and, if chosen, be willing to have their 2015-2016 classroom experience highlighted on the Internet and in various media outlets. Teachers, students, and even parents whose children are benefiting from this initiative will be invited to blog about this year-long experience on the Extreme Classroom website. [Read more…]
Bob Eby, vice chair of the Oak Ridge Board of Education, receives the TSBA Level IV Boardmanship Award during a recent district meeting in Newport, Tennessee. (Submitted photo)
Bob Eby, vice chair of the Oak Ridge Board of Education, was honored with a Boardmanship Award at a recent Tennessee School Boards Association meeting.
Eby received the Level IV Boardsmanship Award, which was presented by TSBA Executive Director Tammy Grissom during the Fall District meeting in Newport, Tennessee, a press release said.
To achieve the award, Bob accumulated more than 200 credits in various school board activities, including attending TSBA leadership conferences, policy workshops, summer law institutes, state and national conventions, and a TSBA “day on the Hill” in Nashville, and he met with state legislators, the release said. Eby also presented Oak Ridge school board activities at various conferences as well as to local civic groups.
The release said Eby has served as a judge for state school architectural competitions and as an evaluator of other school boards seeking to be recognized as Boards of Distinction as the Oak Ridge School Board is. Level IV also requires a self-evaluation of board activities completed by the candidate for the award.
Laurie Paine
There will be a meet-and-greet for Laurie Paine, a candidate for Oak Ridge Board of Education, at Cedar Hill Park at 6 p.m. Monday, October 6.
“Bring the kids for some fun!” a press release said. “With all the recent events happening in Oak Ridge, this is also a safety awareness event.”
Light finger foods will be offered along with free face painting for the children, the release said.
It said Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank will be attending as a guest.
Patricia Garland in Hong Kong (Submitted photo)
A cross-cultural learning experience in Hong Kong this summer helped Patricia Garland view sustainability problems and solutions from a new perspective.
“Culturally, it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I had never been able to work with other cultures in this capacity,” said Garland, the 2014 spring recipient of the Dr. Adrian R. Lawler Exchange Scholarship. “It was fascinating.”
The Lawler Scholarship supports international study programs and is administered by the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation. Lawler, an Oak Ridge High School graduate and the second student here to participate in an American Field Service international program in 1957, established the scholarship in 2008 to offer students here similar opportunities to gain tolerance and understanding of people from other cultures.
Garland, 23, a 2009 ORHS graduate, studied abroad through a program at Arizona State University, where she is working on her master’s degree in sustainability. She received her bachelor’s degree in environmental science, with a concentration on sociology and anthropology, from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She is the daughter of Sid and Anne Garland. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation is now accepting applications for the 2014 fall Dr. Adrian R. Lawler Exchange Scholarship, and they are due by October 31.
Applications are available through the Foundation’s website at www.orpsef.org under the Lawler Scholarship tab. They should be returned to the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation, P.O. Box 117 MS-22, Oak Ridge, TN 37831. [Read more…]
Brian Peters, right, a design engineer for nuclear systems with US ITER at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, works with Jessey Yang, left, and Victoria “Tori” Mullins during a FIRST LEGO League practice session at the National Transportation Research Center. (Photo courtesy ORNL/UT-Battelle)
About 30 students ages nine through 14 are gearing up for the 2014-15 FIRST LEGO League competition with weekly training sessions at the National Transportation Research Center in West Knoxville. NTRC is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and ORNL operating contractor UT-Battelle co-sponsors the LEGO League tournament.
“This year’s theme is ‘World Class Learning Unleashed,’” said Claus Daniel, an ORNL researcher who’s coaching one of three teams meeting at the NTRC. “Part of what the students are doing is defining a question, research, how people learn about the question nowadays and then original ideas to improve the learning process.” [Read more…]
In 2012, the scientific community was shocked to see six Italian scientists arrested and placed on trial for the manslaughter of 309 people. How did they manage to kill 309 people? Easy: They failed to predict an earthquake.
As insane as it sounds, two years later these scientists are still stuck in an appeal process, and they are still facing a potential six years in prison. Now long off everyone’s radar, the questions this prosecution poses to Western civilization have faded from our memory.
At stake and at issue are the underlying ideologies of what our machines and the data they generate actually mean to us as human beings. Unfortunately, these ideologies remain in the background of our educational and technological decision-making. The lives and the minds of our students are rapidly becoming intertwined with their technologies and the haste we feel in harnessing this cultural phenomenon is driven by a competitive economic desire to “stay ahead” of the technological curve.
With the exception of perhaps a few hold-over “Luddites,” no one I know is against the use of technology in the classroom. On the flip side, however, I must say that in all my conversations about classroom technology, I have never—not even once—heard a citizen or educator discuss what the use of that technology actually means to a human being. [Read more…]
David Bryant
The Oak Ridge High School’s annual Homecoming Parade is Friday, and ORHS Principal David Bryant is inviting the community to attend.
The parade starts at 6:15 p.m. Friday, October 3.
There is a new route for the parade this year. It will follow Central Avenue to Tennessee to Towne Road to Broadway and then to Blankenship, Bryant said. [Read more…]
