Congratulations to the ISTE Literacy PLN Award Winners! 2018

PLN Leader

Rob Burggraaf

Posted 5/22/2018

The Literacy PLN is excited to share that Tammy Dunbar and Julie Hembree have been selected as the winners of the 2018 Literacy PLN Award for their Cultivate World Literacy submission.  This real-world, project-based learning experience first included more than 120 classrooms from 33 countries across six continents. Through a series of carefully crafted prompts, students start on a path of self-reflection that slowly turns their focus outward to the world around them. Students do in-depth research, using critical thinking skills to learn about why illiteracy exists around the globe, what factors contribute to illiteracy and how they can be agents of change. Students present their findings each week in a digital format of their choice on the Cultivate World Literacy website and/or YouTube channel (which are amplified through social media), providing a platform of communication and collaboration for the sharing of ideas so they can learn from one another and build a foundation for future interactions. Continued collaboration through multiple Skype sessions allows students and educators to make the world their classroom with global resources to help problem-solve and craft strategies to Teach the World to Read.

Tammy teaches 5th grade in Manteca, CA, USA, and Pre-Service Technology at Teachers College of San Joaquin. She has co-authored two global projects: Human Differences ( http://www.humandifferences.com ) (50 countries, 37 schools) and Cultivate World Literacy (http://www.cultivateworldliteracy.com). She is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Fellow and Certified Educator, Surface & Skype Master Trainer, a United Nations #TeachSDGs Ambassador and a TEACH.org Ambassador. She has trained thousands of teachers in being fearless in their use of educational technology through NCCE (Northwest Council for Computer Education), CUE (Computer-Using Educators) and in her own district, Manteca Unified. She Skypes with classrooms and educators around the world to educate and elevate. A popular presenter and trainer (ISTE, BLC, CUE, etc.), Dunbar was 2016 California Woman of the Year, Assembly District 12, a featured presenter on Microsoft's 10/2017 Hack the Classroom event (broadcast to a global audience of more than 50,000), won an eInstruction $75,000 Classroom Makeover Video Contest, wrote a successful Enhancing Education Through Technology federal grant, and named Manteca USD Teacher of the Year.

Julie believes that global collaboration is key to linking students around the world. Formerly a K-12 classroom teacher with specialties in reading, English and digital literacy, Julie has been a teacher librarian for the past ten years. She presents at local and national conferences on education, teacher-librarian topics and technology integration. She is author of the multiple award winning Bulldog Reader Blog where she blogs about literacy, innovation and technology innovation. Her blog has had over 200,000 views from 196 different countries since it began in 2010. She is a member of ALA, AASL, WLMA/WLA and ISTE and regularly presents at the annual WLMA state convention for teacher librarians. She has been featured on Anthony Salcito's Daily Edventures three times. Julie began a Books to Africa global literacy collaboration project in 2012 linking teachers in three countries in sub-Sahara Africa with quality reading materials. Her students have raised over $6,000 and sent more than 5,000 books overseas. In 2015 she spent three weeks in South Africa teaching and collaborating with her partner teachers there. She also collaborates with teachers in Europe on a Book Trailer project, and initiated a Global Poetry Unites Project in April 2016.

Their submission was chosen from among several candidates for clearly demonstrating outstanding contributions to literacy instruction in a digital age, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to recognize them for these contributions. As a winner of this award, they will be honored at the 2018 ISTE Conference & Expo in Chicago.

We hope you will join us in congratulating Tammy Dunbar and Julie Hembree for their outstanding work!

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Rob Burggraaf
Instructional Technology Coach
Lexington School District Two
West Columbia SC