Beth Pennington

Pennington’s winning program, “That’s My Back Story and I’m Sticking to It!,” was developed to add an additional dimension to a technological revolution occurring at Charles Town Middle School. Students are currently blogging and sharing data in cyber space with their classmates and with a global audience – on a limited basis. With the new program, students will create a greater online presence and create science-based applications they can share across the world. They will use social media such as Twitter to create a back story for each lesson they learn in class. The back stories will include questions, statements, and images to enhance instruction of onsite and global classmates. For example, students who are staying home from school because they are ill will now have the ability to follow along with the instruction being taught in class. Students will not have to take notes during the sessions because the conversations will be logged and available for review after each class to allow them to fully participate in the lesson instead of having to focus on note taking. Pennington, who lives in Inwood, hopes students will learn to work in a collaborative environment and to communicate with others in new and creative ways.