PBS Names Stowe’s McCright One of 50 Digital Innovators

Joe McCright, a spanish teacher at Stowe Elementary School, has received a teaching award from Tackk for creating and using tackk websites in his classroom.

Joe McCright, a spanish teacher at Stowe Elementary School, has received a teaching award from Tackk for creating and using tackk websites in his classroom.

Congratulations are in order for Joe McCright who besides teaching Spanish at Stowe Elementary is the Building Technology Specialist there. He has been named a 2016 LearningMedia Digital Innovator by the Public Broadcasting Service. As Iowa’s lone award-winner, PBS will fly him to Denver in June to attend the LearningMedia Digital Summit. McCright will also receive a Samsung Galaxy.

He is one of approximately 50 “Trailblazers” designated by the DMPS Office of Innovation who have been encouraged to experiment, model and share tools and methods of blended learning in their classrooms.

“Blended learning is where educators use online tools or delivery to supplement their in-class instruction,” McCright said. “Online tools or delivery are usually available to learners on a 24/7 basis.”

Jeremiah Starr is the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the district and was excited to share the news about McCright’s selection.

“We are pretty proud of him,” Starr said.

McCright’s selection should come as no surprise. As we reported a while back, he has been blending technology into his classroom instruction for some time.

As one of only 52 educators across the country chosen to be a Lead Digital Innovator in the coming year, McCright will be part of a prestigious group that will receive professional development opportunities to help build their digital classrooms.

The PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovators program is a yearlong, free professional program designed to foster and reward a community of highly engaged, tech-savvy K-12 educators who are effectively using digital media and technology in classrooms to further student engagement and achievement. Participants have exclusive access to affiliated virtual events and trainings and the potential to partner with PBS in-person at specific education events in their communities.

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