TEAP Online Newsletter

Dear Technology Educators & TEAP Members,

Welcome to the November edition of TEAP-Online Newsletter and Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all! As a post-conference newsletter, this one will contain some conference follow-up information as well as some fun holiday related items and some exciting news! Enjoy, and keep that "News" coming!

Great News!

The following information comes to us via Kip Bollinger, our friendly neighborhood Science Advisor to PDE! Thanks Kip!

"We have received confirmation that Bill Bertrand will be joining PDE about January 24, 2005 as the Technology Education Advisor. Bill is a technology education teacher at New Oxford SD at the middle level and brings a passion and commitment to tech ed. that will be much needed and appreciated. He is an assertive advocate for tech. ed. that will support the discipline well. Additionally, he is excellent in understanding how science and tech ed. can work together. His first task will be in planning the Governor's institute for Technology Education which will be held prior to June 30, 2005."

Bill, I think I speak for all of us here at TEAP when I say congratulations and thank you for being willing to represent the profession at PDE!

The New TEAP-Online Version 3.0 is here!

The new TEAP-Online was officially made available to the public Monday, November 29th. The new TEAP-Online includes a great deal of new information such as information and content areas including:

Who We Are
What is Tech. Ed?
History of TEAP
10 Reasons to Join
Professional Development
Scholarships & Grants
Teacher Recruitment
PA Certification Details
Contact Us
TEAP Constitution

The new website also includes a search feature providing the ability to search the entire site for the information you are seeking! In addition to the new content, the content you know and love is also available, but not necessarily in the same pages...but have no fear, our new Error 404 page will help you in case you attempt to follow a link in your Favorites folder that no longer exists. Thanks to all who helped in the development of this new website, you help and support was truly appreciated!

2004 Conference Award Recipients

Below is a list of those who received recognition for various TEAP or ITEA sponsored awards at this years conference. Congratulations goes out to all of the recipients, and well as the friends and families who support them!

Dr. Nevin Andre Award for Outstanding Journal Article - Bill Hughes
Outstanding Service Award - Mike Whitman
TEAP/ITEA High School Program Excellence - Cumberland Valley High School
TEAP/ITEA Teacher Excellence - Rick Zilla
TEAP Regional Vice President Outstanding Service - Jared Bitting
TEAP Presidential Special Recognition - Eugene Cestrone
TEAP Council for Leadership Exemplary Leadership Citation - Jared Bitting
TEAP William J. Wilkinson Scholarship - Jana Zinn (Millersville) & Theresa Petrick (California U.)

TEAP Connections E-Mentoring Program

TEAP Connections (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TEAP-Connections) is a new initiative of the Technology Education Association of Pennsylvania to provide mentors for new and future technology educators. If you are a new teacher, or know someone who is interested in becoming a Technology Educator in the future who is seeking advice from experienced teachers in the field, please consider joining this group! Please contact Judy Hawthorn for more information jhawthorn@wssd.k12.pa.us.

Pennsylvania F1 Team Information

Announcing Brian Haskell as the State Coordinator for F1 Teams In Schools competition. Brian can be reached via email at f1pa@hitechinc.us or by phone at 888 2992393. Mike Amrhein is the state conference coordinator for the state level F1 competition in PA. amrhein@cup.edu. California University is a manufacturing center for F1 vehicles (contact Mike Amrhein)

Brandt Hutzel is coordinating test and tune days. Schedule to be announced. bhutzel@pinerichland.org

Great Sites Online!

Below are a large list of online resources that may be useful to you in your day to day classroom activities. This months list includes some great holiday related sites. In addition to some regular classroom worthy sites!

How Pop-up Turkey Timers Work - http://home.howstuffworks.com/pop-up-timer.htm
Lots of turkeys sold in the United States come with a cool little piece of technology -- the pop-up timer! There’s no guess work involved, which makes for a much simpler Thanksgiving dinner preparation. Learn how pop-up timers know (and let YOU know) when the turkey is done.

How Christmas Lights Work - http://people.howstuffworks.com/christmas-lights.htm
Every year, the holiday season is beautifully and somewhat magically announced by the sudden appearance of tiny sparkling "fairy" lights strung on houses, trees and balconies. Well, if you've ever been standing in your living room with a tangled strand of Christmas lights that just won't work, you'll love this article! Learn what's going on so you can fix it yourself.

How Snow Makers Work - http://science.howstuffworks.com/snow-maker.htm
When Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney croon, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas..." it's difficult not to do the same. There's just something special about a snowy Christmas. Thanks to some nifty technology -- you need not merely dream. With cool temperatures and a good supply of water, snow makers can cover the ground in the fluffy white stuff in no time. Find out how!

Louisiana TSA Activities Page - http://ltsa.org
Contains some great Technology Education activity and competition information!

Cumberland Valley High School Tech. Ed. Dept. - http://www.cvschools.org/cvhs/departments/teched/index.html
Check out the website of this years High School Program of Excellence Award! This site contains information on courses offered, Faculty, and the Cumberland Valley TSA Chapter!

Yahoo! Groups

Please consider joining one of the TEAP-Online Yahoo-Groups. These services provide members with the ability upload files, and chat using Yahoo chat services, as well as providing another form of communication for your the members of our association. To join please visit the group websites at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TEAP_Online/ and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TEAP-Connections/

If you have additional questions or items to include in the next TEAP-Online Newsletter, please email us at TEAP-News with the subject header: TEAP-News Items. In your email, please include your name, school name, and your email address in addition to the newsworthy item. Please feel free to also send us links to useful online resources if you have any not included at TEAP-Online for the benefit of it's members! Please contact us if you no longer want to receive these newsletters.