Q2, Western Security Bank, City Brew Coffee and Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools have teamed up for 'One Class at a Time.' It's a program that recognizes teachers who go above and beyond to help their students.
Meet Liz Madden, a 7th grade life science teacher at Castle Rock Middle School who has a fresh and fun idea about learning. "Learning is playing," said Ms. Madden. "We learn by play and if we're playing with things that's going to teach us something then that's engaging everyone. Even me. I don't do anything that I don't like to do." And she keeps her students fully engaged through numerous hands-on projects during the school year. "Well, I try to bring in things that coincide with what we're learning. Like we learned about how silkworms make silk so I ordered some cocoons for them so they could pull the silk off of it. Then we learned how they twist it and turn it into fibers. Then we also learned about asexual reproduction where you start house plants from just cuttings and so the kids did macrame hangers so we can hang them and that's kind of like engineering skills. But then we're doing asexual reproduction where we're planning seeds and I've done like 'The Three Sisters' in the native culture. I really try to incorporate a lot from our native culture because they've been around for thousands of years and they know how to do it right." For being a teacher who is always planning fun activities for her students to get hands-on experience, even dipping into her own pocket at times to ensure the activities happen, Ms. Madden was presented with a $500 grant sponsored by Western Security Bank and a $150 gift card from City Brew Coffee. Congratulations! If you would like to nominate a teacher, go to www.ktvq.com/one-class-at-a-time. We could be surprising a deserving teacher at your school next.
