Education Faculty Member Wins National Disney Award

Jennifer Wilson

Jennifer Wilson, M.A., a faculty member in Walden’s M.S. in Education program, is one of 44 national honorees to receive a 2006 Disney Teacher Award.

The winners are chosen by their peers—representatives of leading education organizations and former Disney honorees—from among 75,000 applicants. Wilson, who also teaches third grade at Grant Ranch School in Littleton, Colo., was nominated by the parent of one of her students.

Creativity in the Classroom
Creativity is a key component of Wilson’s gradeschool classroom instruction: “One of my favorite teaching mediums is the daily newspaper. We practice skills as we explore current events. As discussions evolve, I let the kids take over. For example, after reading an article about the greenhouse effect and global warming, my students were not completely clear about the concepts—so I put our comma lesson on hold for a few days while I let them explore and research.”

Soon after, Wilson recalls, a student came to her and said, “At first, we weren't sure how to help stop global warming—we can't stop factories or cars that cause pollution. But when we tried to figure out how to clean up the problem, we found out that planting more trees is the best way.” In the process of learning more about global warming, the students also practiced reading, writing, math, social studies, science, and other skills, she says. They also started a tree-planting project.

Wilson’s students don’t just learn facts—they apply them to daily life.

Applying Concepts
“A basic concept I recently taught involved measurement. Students wondered about sizes and amounts and asked questions that formulated our activities. We measured door widths and wrote letters to the superintendent expressing Americans with Disabilities Act concerns,” Wilson says. “In addition, we measured and multiplied a classroom faucet drip and wrote to the school’s facilities department about the waste of Earth’s resources.”

At Walden, Wilson brings her ideas and experiences to the students in her online classroom in a collaborative way, as a peer.

“I start out by telling them, ‘I'm anxious to learn with you,’” she says. “And I do learn from my students. Any teacher will tell you that they learn from their students almost as much as they teach them.”

As a Disney honoree, Wilson will receive $10,000 and a trip to the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif. In addition, her school will receive $5,000 for professional development and a trip for her and her principal to network with other Disney teacher honorees this summer in Orlando.

—By Danielle Sweeney