VTEA taps Watkins Elementary, David Dobbs for state recognition

J.B. Watkins Elementary School recently received the Virginia Technology Education Association's Elementary Program Excellence Award. The recognition, one of the highest honors given to elementary school technology education programs, gives teachers and administrators a chance to share successful technology related ideas and activities.

David Dobbs, the school division's Career and Technical Education program manager, was honored with the VTEA's Supervisory Achievement Award. Dobbs was honored for "the improvement, development and implementation of technology education programs at the elementary, middle and high school levels."

Watkins Elementary will represent Chesterfield and Virginia in March at the 2007 International Technology Education Association's annual conference in San Antonio.

Technology-related events at Watkins during the 2005-06 school year included: + Hosting a James Madison University graduate-level course entitled, "Design, Children's Engineering and Technology Content and Strategies for the Elementary Classroom" where teachers learned to integrate design and technology into curriculum. + Janet Evans and other staff members won a MCD Award from the Chesterfield Public Education Foundation. Award monies paid for a Children's Engineering Integration program, which teaches students a hands-on, multi-sensory approach to problem solving and design technology. + Kristin Martin, a second-grade teacher, received a $1,000 grant from ITEA to buy materials and tools to support the use of engineering in classrooms and to give students a basic understanding of design technology.