St. John teacher honored as one of best in state

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 15, 2010

BATON ROUGE – St. John the Baptist Parish School Teacher Tanya Faucheux has been recognized by a statewide group of educators for her effective use of computers as educational tools in the classroom.

Faucheux, a fourth-grade teacher at Fifth Ward Elementary, was named the 2010 Region III Elementary Teacher of the Year by the Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators. She was honored for her outstanding teaching efforts during the opening ceremony of the 26th Annual LACUE State Conference in Baton Rouge, which was held at the River Center Theatre.

More than 2,000 teachers and education administrators were in attendance to honor the state’s top achievers in technology education.

According to the LACUE conference handout, the association was created to support efforts to fully utilize the power of computers to fulfill the goals of education. The ultimate goal of LACUE is to achieve significant and increasing improvement in the understanding of computers and to have available the more specific information and technical training necessary to all those who beneficially apply computer technology to their teaching efforts.

Faucheux currently serves as

the Technology LEAD Teacher for her school, and she is a district technology presenter/facilitator, a school-site technology fair coordinator and a certified Promethean trainer.

Faucheux was nominated for the award for her work with the K-8 teachers at her school, showing them how to integrate technology into their classroom instruction by providing after-school and weekend professional development training.

“Ms. Faucheux is an outstanding teacher. She inspires both students and teacher to be creative, and she models and promotes good digital citizenship and responsibility,” said Bonnie Dinvaut-Irving, St. John the Baptist Parish Schools’ coordinator of educational technology.

Faucheux is quite diverse in her use of available classroom technology. She helps the teachers create instructional flipcharts using ActivInspire software and she models best practices in technology

integration for them. She also regularly uses iMovie with students to teach lessons and connect them to other classrooms around the country and the world. Currently, her students are pen pals with a school in North Carolina and they share iMovies and us a webcam to interact.

She is also the chairperson for her school’s Family Literacy Night. In that capacity, she uses a variety of software application, including ActivInspire, PhotoStory 3, Tumble Books and iMovie, to present multi-media and digital stories. Faucheux also provides parents with community resources and websites that they can access to improve their technology skills, and thereby, better understand and assist their children in their assignments.

Faucheux is currently in her ninth year as an educator for St. John the Baptist Parish Schools. During her tenure, she has pursued specialized training in the use of several educational software and technology programs for the classroom. She is fluent in her use of Technology Integration, Desktop Publishing, Microsoft Windows Office Suite, Curriculum Design, Web Design, and the Promethean.

“The quality of education at her school is evidenced by the increased usage of technology by both teachers and students, by the growth in their School Performance Scores, and by the quality of the products produced by the Fifth Ward Elementary students during the district technology fair,” Dinvaut-Irving said.

St. John the Baptist Parish School Superintendent Courtney P. Millet said Faucheux’s efforts have reached far throughout the school system.

“Ms. Faucheux’s understanding of technology and her skill to incorporate it into the classroom have proven to be valuable assets to our school system. Because she is so willing to share her knowledge with other teachers in the system through professional development, she has helped to enrich and

expand learning through the use of technology at all our schools,”

said Superintendent Courtney P. Millet.

In addition to the Elementary Teacher of Year award, LACUE also presented awards in each state region to outstanding professionals nominated for: Middle/Junior High Teacher of the Year, Secondary Teacher of the Year, Post-Secondary Teacher of the Year, Leader of the Year (a non-classroom professional), Overall Educator of the Year and Special Person of the Year.

Other Region III winners included Jenny Dixon of Ascension Parish, Middle School Teacher of the Year; Nikki Mury of Assumption Parish, High School Teacher of the Year; Sue LaJaunie of St. Mary Parish, Leader of the Year; and Cecile Jones Armant of St. James Parish, Educator of the Year.

The LACUE State Conference, which will run through tomorrow, will include a series of educational conferences and workshops, as well as special presentations.