P-H-M Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year learned today that they have been selected among the Indiana Department of Education’s Top 30 Finalists for the Indiana Teacher of the Year.

Jeanie Mitchell teaches French at Penn High School and is the Freshman Academy Leader. Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker surprised Madame Mitchell with the good news that she had been named Secondary Teacher of the Year by popping in on her class back in April. Click to watch the video.

Christine Austin is a fourth grade teacher at Walt Disney Elementary School. Mrs. Austin also learned in a surprise announcement in the Spring that she had been chosen as P-H-M’s Elementary Teacher of the Year. Click here to see the video of the surprise announcement and to learn more about Mrs. Austin.

Austin and Mitchell were among 30 teachers chosen as the top finalists from a field of 61 applicants. P-H-M was only one of two school districts, and the only one in the Michiana area, that has two teachers who made the Top 30!

The IDOE TOY Selection Committee will determine the “Top 10” within the next few weeks, with those finalists being invited to the “Top 10 Interview Day” on September 12.

In a surprise announcement Tuesday (April 23) morning at Penn High School, Penn-Harris-Madison Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker honored the District’s 2019 Secondary Teacher of the Year Penn’s Freshman Academy Leader & World Languages French Teacher Jeanie Mitchell (click here to view the entire photo gallery on the P-H-M District website).

Watch the video below to see her reaction when she walks into the room to find Dr. Thacker and the cameras waiting …

Madame Jeanie Mitchell came to P-H-M and to Penn High School to teach French in the World Languages Academy in 2008. Last September, she also became Freshman Academy Leader.

Through her French classes Mme. Mitchell brings the world to her students providing classroom project based learning projects, as well as field trips to the French Market in Chicago and even to France! Mme. Mitchell sees her role as a French teacher is to “encourage students to gain a better understanding of themselves and their own world by studying and relating to the practices and beliefs of others.”

As the Freshman Academy Leader, Jeanie helps make the transition from middle school to high school manageable and less daunting for incoming freshmen. She worked with other Academy teachers to begin recognizing two freshman “Students of the Month” (two from each of the four freshman houses); so far more than 60 students have been highlighted this year.

Jeanie has also worked on a Tier 3 RtI program to identify Penn’s most at-risk freshmen students pairing them up with an administrator, counselor or dean. These students not only get the wraparound support they need, but more importantly they also come to realize that they have trusted adults who care about them and who they can go to for help. Speaking of help … Jeanie is also involved in Penn’s Natural Helper’s program, which helps students to not only care for themselves, but to also show compassion and reach out and help others.

Jeanie is a leader among her peers at Penn, frequently leading staff professional development on a variety of topics such as technology, literacy strategies, effective parent communication, and how to use social media to develop teachers’ personal learning networks.

Jeanie and her husband have two children who attend Horizon Elementary School.

Click here to view the entire photo gallery on the P-H-M District website.

As Paris’ most popular tourist stop, ahead of even the Eiffel Tower, people around the world have a connection Notre Dame Cathedral, including some here at Penn High School.

The fire that ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris Monday, April 15 stopped people in their tracts, stunned as they watched this major French, and world, historical and cultural landmark go up in flames.

Penn High School French teacher Jeanie Mitchell has visited the Notre-Dame de Paris five times over the course of her numerous trips to France.

Senior Hailie Kulikowski was just in Paris two weeks ago over Spring Break, the week of April 1st. She talks about how fortunate she considers herself to be among some of the last tourists to see  Notre-Dame de Paris before it went up in flames. Click the video below to hear their reaction …

P-H-M middle schools students take a trip every other summer to Europe, giving students the opportunity to go more in depth in the social students/history curriculum.

This was photo was taken in front of the Cathedral on a P-H-M middle school trip to Paris in 2012.

Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation will host Technovation 2016, a digital learning initiative for educators across the Midwest, at Penn High School on Wednesday, July 20, and Thursday, July 21.

Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz will provide a welcome address to participants on Wednesday, and George Couros, author and leading educator in the field of innovative leadership, teaching and learning, will give the keynote address on Thursday morning.

At last year’s inaugural conference, more than 300 Indiana educators participated in the event, which offers a wide spectrum of innovative techniques to blend technology with teaching in order to increase student engagement and student achievement.

“In this digital environment, our students move from mere consumers of education to actual participants and producers of educational content,” Penn High School Principal Steve Hope said regarding the purpose of Technovation 2016. “The use of technology is simply another tool – a very powerful tool – to continue the work of inquiry, problem-solving, and critical thinking.”  

Penn-Harris-Madison Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker noted P-H-M’s commitment to 1:1 student-to-technological device ratio at Penn High School and its three middle schools has played a key role in teaching and learning engagement in and outside the classroom.

“With a Chromebook at their side, our teachers and students will have the world at their fingertips,” Thacker said.

P-H-M teachers at the elementary, middle and high school levels, along with P-H-M administrators and staff, will deliver the presentations. Penn students will be on-hand to showcase and answer questions on the Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science Lab tools used at the high school: augmented reality sandbox, UAV science drones, tornado generator and an earthquake machine (click here to see a “road map” of the Technovation classes).

Attendees will also see vendor demonstrations, such as zSpace, a 3D virtual learning tool. zSpace is an interactive hardware and software platform that brings resources to life through 3D technology helping students visualize and create.

“We see this as an opportunity for showcasing the talented teachers and students of the district as well as a launchpad of lifelong learning for the school year at Penn-Harris-Madison,” Technovation 2016 coordinator Duke Lines said.

Featured speakers at Technovation 2016 include Lisa Duerkson, Jeanie Mitchell, Rachel Fry, Amy Heavin, Terri Whitehead, Kelly Clifford, Sheila Toth, Beth Raker, Jarred Corwin, and Jill Kaufman.

More than 60 sessions will be offered in administration, technology personnel and teacher tracks.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet with a wide-range of vendors including, but not limited to: Luma Audio & Visual, Automated Data Systems, Ruckus Wireless, Audio Enhancement, Brocade, CIBER Inc., Edmentum, Educational Furniture, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard, Indiana Connected Educators, Instructure and St. Joe Valley Metronet.