Inside Dallas ISD

Ask Terry Stotts about his job as the construction and technology teacher at the Multiple Career Magnet High School, and his eyes light up. Stotts could spend hours talking about all the reasons he loves his job teaching practical skills to students with special needs in Dallas ISD. But, by far, his favorite part of the job comes in December when his students give away the rocking horses they spent the first part of the year building by hand. This year was no different, and Stotts smiled wide as his students gave away their rocking horses on Dec. 11 to…

Huddled around their desks inside a classroom at Townview Center, Mrs. Ping Zhuge’s students are deciding whether to provide a loan so a 21-year-old nursing student in Cambodia can pay his college tuition. Or, the students’ discuss, maybe they should instead provide a loan to a Kenyan farmer so she can buy the lights and inputs needed to plant six acres? Then again, there is also 24-year-old in the Gaza Strip who is requesting a loan to buy a solar system for heating water for the family house. Maybe they should give a loan to him instead? The students are…

Teaching a room full of 3-year olds is challenging on many levels, and one of Dallas ISD’s best is rising to the challenge every day. Tara Broadus, a preK teacher at J. J. Rhoads Learning Center, was recently named Dallas ISD’s 2015 Teacher of the Year in the Elementary Category. Her career as a teacher is rooted in a family full of educators, including her father, grandmother and aunts and uncles. Her mother worked in adult education as well. But the 1989 gradate of Lincoln High School didn’t immediately choose that path in college. “My initial major was journalism,” she…

Looking to brighten someone’s holiday this season?  Consider partnering with Dallas ISD to help others in need. More than a dozen schools across the district are conducting donation drives to benefit our students and families and a range of nonprofit organizations, including North Texas Food Bank, Salvation Army, area food pantries and churches. Whether you want to donate coats and scarves, canned foods or turkeys, look at the below list to select someone with whom to share the joy of the season.