Davis teacher awarded $2,500

When you're handed an oversize check in the amount of $2,500, you know it's a good day.

Kaysville Elementary School sixth-grade teacher Sharlene Bremer was thrilled recently when representatives of Qwest Communications arrived at her school and declared her one of 20 statewide winners of a 2007 Qwest Teachers and Technology grant.

"I had been waiting to hear for almost three months on this grant," Bremer said after receiving the check from Eric Isom, Qwest director of government relations. "I'm so thrilled. I'm just so excited, and I'll use it in many ways in the classroom."

The Qwest grant program is designed to recognize and reward public school teachers who use innovative technology in the classroom to improve the education experience of students. Bremer's goal is to not only use the money to purchase a Hitachi Star Board and a Dell laptop computer, but also use her classroom time and computer lab time more wisely.

"The problem is that there is not enough time in our computer lab to go in there and teach children how to use the program and then how to actually execute the project." Bremer said. " (The star board and laptop) will give me an opportunity in the classroom to have the kids manipulate and learn the program, so that when they go into the (computer) lab, it is actual work time for them."

Bremer explained one of the goals of the Davis School District is to encourage reading in all grade levels.

"I was hoping to get this laptop and smart board so I could teach the children how to do PowerPoint (presentations) based on what they've read," Bremer said. "And that they'd share those with students in younger grades.

"I've seen this happen at another school," Bremer said, "and what I saw happen were that students were getting more excited about reading and wanting to read books that their peers had read. So it was encouraging them to read and to share what they had learned with others. So this is just wonderful technology to do that."

The Qwest Foundation explained Bremer's "Book Summary Presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint" proposal was one of 114 that "came from virtually every corner of the state, with requests ranging from additional computers for classrooms to funding innovative ways to make curriculum more exciting and understandable for students."