Published: June 09, 2009 09:47 am      

Spotlight on Miller

San Marcos CISD campus wins education award

A teaching team from Miller Junior High School won Time Warner Cable's Spotlight on Education Award for the Central Texas Region for their project called “Pixton with Shakespeare.” The project made it all the way to the national finals for the National Spotlight award.

The team of Kelly Blanks, Melissa Dupré, Grace Mueller and Roxann Tull each received $125 and a plaque and will split a $500 team award, in addition to Miller receiving a $1,000 technology grant.

The Miller eighth grade Language Arts Department was studying “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare, and the teachers were looking for a way to enrich the experience through the use of technology.

One of the ideas that evolved was developing a scene from "The Tempest” using the Pixton.com Web site, which is a site that helps students create their own graphic comic strip or a novel. Team member Mueller said, “Using their own interpretation of the scene, students developed the cartoon.”

They often used another Web site called No Fear Shakespeare to increase their understanding of the scene and learn the sometimes difficult language of Shakespeare.”

Miller's project was submitted by campus technologist Lisa Jones. It won the regional competition, as well as being a finalist at the national level.

The Time Warner Cable Spotlight on Education Awards program recognizes classroom projects that use technology and the free resources that TWC provides to schools to enhance the classroom learning experience.

Information from San Marcos CISD