Article by Liana Huezo, Intern Support Manager
Photographs by Liana Huezo and Angela Baldwin, TeachUp! Intern

TeachUp! Interns in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, launched Tech Challenge 2009: Race For The Planet in April 2009. The purpose was to promote knowledge sharing among teachers by encouraging them to create and share flipcharts on the Promethean Planet website. The TeachUp! Interns worked closely with each other and with Jefferson Parish administration to ensure that Tech Challenge 2009 was a success.

From the outset, teachers were urged to make as many flipcharts as they could and upload those flipcharts to Promethean Planet.  It was emphasized that judging would not be based on the quality of the flipchart; instead, the purpose of the challenge was to help teachers become comfortable enough with the technology to create their own flipcharts that would then serve as resources for teachers around the world.

TeachUp! Intern Angela Baldwin compiled a list of teachers who submitted flipcharts on Promethean Planet. Teachers from Pitre, East Jefferson High School, Ella Dolhonde, Riverdale Middle, Rudolph Matas, Harahan Elementary, and T.H. Harris, in the Jefferson Parish Public School System participated. On Wednesday May 20, 2009, three teachers were surprised with an award for their participation in Tech Challenge. Google, Nacho Mama’s, Reginelli’s, Safari Car Wash, Aquarium Masters, and Copeland’s donated prizes for the winners of the Challenge.

Third place winner, Jacque Frere, a history teacher at East Jefferson High School, uploaded more than 50 flipcharts to Promethean Planet during the course of the competition. Not only did he share them on Promethean Planet, but his flipcharts were downloaded a grand total of 967 times. When asked why he decided to take the challenge Mr. Frere remarked, “Once [TeachUp! Intern] Shane showed me how to do it, I just got into it!” Mr. Frere was awarded with a free car wash from Safari Car Wash, a Visa gift card and a small prize bag. He was so excited about winning that he wanted to share the experience with others. “Come tell my boss!” said Mr. Frere, as he led Angela and the Intern Support Manager to the assistant principal’s office. He was congratulated by his colleagues for all of his achievements.

The second place winner, Jane Herbert at Ella Dolhonde, was surprised by her TeachUp! Intern, Lindsay Tessier. Mrs. Herbert received a prize bag and portable speakers that can be used with an iPod mp3 player. Mrs. Herbert submitted a flipchart that was downloaded 52 times. “I couldn’t find a flipchart that covered Figures of Speech, ” explained Mrs. Herbert. When describing her motivation to participate she said, “Lindsay kept telling me: You can do it! It was fun, once I got the hang of it.”

The top prize went to Darlene Leblanc, a kindergarten teacher at Vic Pitre Elementary. Her flipchart on time was downloaded 25 times.  Amazingly, Vic Pitre was also the school with the most participants in the Tech Challenge, with a total of 11 teachers uploading flipcharts to Promethean Planet. All of the teachers were awarded a pizza party, a prize bag and a gift card.  At the ceremony of recognition, attended by the school principal and the participating teachers, Ms. Leblanc was awarded the first place prize - her very own printer/ scanner for her classroom! The teachers also learned to their surprise how many times their flipcharts had been downloaded, a combined total of 289 downloads. The teachers expressed their appreciation for the support they received from Angela Baldwin. Some also noted that they can easily upload their own flipcharts now and will continue to do so in the future.