June 2012 - Allegheny West Magazine

West Allegheny Teacher Chosen as Finalist
for Microsoft’s Partners in Learning U.S. Forum
West Allegheny High School business
and computer technology teacher Pamela
Volakis will be honored by Microsoft
Corporation for her innovative use of
technology in the classroom. She has
been selected as one of 44 educators
currently from 15 states to showcase the
creative ways she is integrating technology
in and beyond the classroom at the
Microsoft Partners in Learning 2012 U.S.
Forum. Taking place in Redmond,
Washington, July 31 and August 1, this
annual event connects and celebrates the
nation’s top educators who engage
students through technology. Microsoft
will select 56 more finalists in June, for a
total of 100, who will compete for a chance
to represent the United States at
Microsoft’s Global Forum this fall in
Athens, Greece.
Volakis was selected for her project,
Video Highlights McKee’s Strategy for Success
McKee Elementary School Principal
Thomas Orr prefaced the viewing of a
video highlighting McKee’s educational
offerings at the April 18 School Board
meeting with an acknowledgment of the
reasons for McKee’s success—its
students, staff, and programs along with
support from the board and administration.
Entitled the “ABCs of McKee,” the
presentation featured an alphabetical
arrangement of some of the things that
make McKee special, like A for adventurous
students, B for band, and C for
chorus. The alphabetical arrangement
continued with a selection of photo
Fifth Grade Vocalist Continues to Impress Audiences
Shane Treloar
��
Fifth grade McKee
Elementary student
Shane Treloar
continues to impress
audiences with his
vocal talent. In his
most recent appearances,
he was
featured as guest
vocalist at the
titled MATH BINGO, where programming
students designed a learning game using
XNA Framework and Microsoft Visual C#.
As gaming programmers, participants were
required to collaborate with teachers and
other students on the project. The next step
was to complete the planning process,
problem solve, and implement the game. The
result was a usable end product that was
beneficial to other students.
For 18 years, Volakis has been teaching
programming and business courses at West
Allegheny High School. In addition to
teaching, she is an advisor for FBLA and the
technology facilitator for the high school
and has partnered with the University of
Pittsburgh in the College in High School
program and Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics
Department to test teaching programming
with robots (FINCHES). Prior to teaching,
This photo of McKee fourth graders
Anne Koester and Hayden Shipley in
Deborah Stockhausen’s class appears in
the “ABCs of McKee” video under Q is
for questions.
Johnstown Symphony Orchestra Mother’s
Day Concert and sang the National Anthem
for a Pittsburgh Power arena football game at
the Consol Energy Center and for a Pennsylvania
Motor Speedway event in Imperial.
Among Shane’s upcoming bookings is a
feature role in the June 13 and 14 performances
of “And the Tony Goes to…”
presented at West Allegheny High School at
7:00 p.m. both evenings. The March of
Volakis was a
programmer in the
steel industry.
“I have a strong
passion to teach
students how to
think critically and
problem solve, and
being recognized by
Microsoft to be
among the best in
Pam Volakis
my field for inspiring
my students to learn
through technology
is a motivational force to continue my
efforts,” said Volakis. “I am looking forward to
networking with educators from around the
country and collaborating with fellow
educators on new ideas I can bring back to
my classroom.”
displays reflecting the importance of the
library, art, physical fitness, bullying
prevention, and other programs. Also
included were snapshots of various
classroom activities and events along with
an emphasis on the nurturing relationships
between students, staff, and volunteers.
McKee computer facilitator Kim Dawson
produced the video by first creating a
PowerPoint presentation, importing the
slides into MovieMaker, and adding music.
This video is the fourth in a series of
presentations showcasing each of the
district’s five schools. The final presentation
will feature the high school.
Dimes has invited him to sing the National
Anthem for its annual walk on June 10. Both
the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team and the
Pittsburgh Steelers football team have also
scheduled Shane to sing the National
Anthem. He will entertain fans at the
baseball game on July 4 and at a regular
season football game with the date to be
announced at a later time.