Southern Cross Primary School IT teacher, Esther Hall won a Microsoft Innovative Teachers Award for her program ‘The Young Apprentice’.By Sarah Schwager
AN Endeavour Hills teacher has won a Microsoft Innovative Teachers Award for her use of technology in the classroom. Esther Hall, 26, has been Southern Cross Primary School’s specialist information technology teacher for grades prep to six for five years.
At the start of the year, Ms Hall devised “The Young Apprentice” computer program for grade five and six students. For 12 weeks, the students were encouraged to use technology to design and market a new product, create a company name and logo, produce an advertisement, design business cards and prepare a presentation.
Ms Hall said the students came up with some fantastic ideas, including one group who made a product called the “Flying Dance Master.”
She said the product was designed to help people get into the groove in those awkward moments on the dance floor and included an advertisement with shots before the dance master, which cost only $1000, and after.
School principal, Averil Moore, encouraged Ms Hall to enter the Microsoft awards, which won state school honours. She will be flown to the Gold Coast in the school holidays to receive the award. Ms Hall will also represent Victoria with 15 other Australian winners at the Asia Pacific Innovative Teachers Conference in November in Seoul, Korea.
