Just before the Christmas holiday, three teachers in the Petal School District were surprised by DOT USA staff who came bearing music-playing gifts. 

Karen Huddleston, Barbara Oberst, and Missy Hamilton all received iPod mp3 players from DOT USA for their active participation in the Communities of Practice.

The Communities of Practice, also known as CoPs, is an online, knowledge sharing environment, where Petal teachers and DOT’s TeachUp! Interns can come and exchange ideas and find resources on how to better use technology in classroom instruction.

The first place prize of an iPod Touch was awarded to Huddleston, who is a teacher at Petal Middle School. Oberst, also a teacher at Petal Middle, won the second prize of an iPod Nano, while Hamilton at Petal Elementary received an iPod Shuffle for third place.

Kal Sanford and Ricardo Clark, Interns at Petal Middle and Petal Elementary schools respectively, were on hand to help award the gifts with the DOT USA staff and the principals at each of the schools.

Teachers in the Petal School District and at Forrest County Agricultural High School participated in the pilot phase of CoPs which ended in December. DOT is planning to open enrollment to all educators in the 54 schools across Mississippi and Louisiana served by DOT's TeachUp! Program.

Several of the TeachUp! Interns also received prizes for helping facilitate CoPs. The Interns were:

• Grand – Gabe Smith (Petal High)

• First Place – Kal Sanford (Petal Middle)

• Second Place – DeDee Fewell (Sumrall Middle)

• Third Place – Matt Carr (Cisco PMO)

• Fourth Place – Kim Brown (Rowan Elementary)

• Fifth Place – Danny Harmon (Rawls Springs Attendance)

• Honorable Mention – Ricardo Clark (Petal Elementary) and Josh Reid (Forrest County Agricultural High School)
  

The Communities of Practice area of our Web site can be viewed here.