AWARD-WINNING WASHINGTON TEACHER COMBINES ART AND TECHNOLOGY

Washington Middle School art teacher Somphonh Oulavong has received a Best Buy Teach Award for her creative use of interactive technology to make learning fun.

Best Buy, which has awarded $2,500 to the school, lauded Oulavong for a project in which here students learn how to use a digital camera and scanner to record their progress in art. Images are manipulated using photo-editing software and posted in the school’s art web gallery at: http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=9303.

Students then create a slide in Power Point that includes a statement about their artwork and the format and size of their work.  By the end of the year, each student will print out a book or electronic portfolio of all his or her work.
“My students are learning so much from this,” Oulavong says. “It helps them to connect my curriculum to their other passion, the internet. They come to my class motivated and more eager to learn.” 

Contact: Somphonh Oulavong, Washington Middle School art/graphic art teacher, 630-301-6862, soulavong@sd129.org.