News Briefs

Vuthy “Woody” Kuon’s family escaped war-torn Cambodia to land in Houston, but that wasn’t the only adversity the young boy would face. In school, he had to overcome constantly goofing off and getting into trouble. That is, until he eventually transferred to a different school and found another form of discipline that would change his life. When he got into trouble there, he was handed a book to read. That sparked a passion for the second-grader who would, as an adult, contribute to more than 100 children’s books so far as a writer, illustrator or both. He also operates his…

In general, “Personalized Learning” is a method of educating children that focuses on each individual student’s interests, talents and goals. In practice, though, what does that really look like? One of Dallas ISD’s newest schools that follows that model – Personalized Preparatory at Sam Houston Elementary School – invites parents to see Personalized Learning in action at 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11, at the school, located at 2827 Throckmorton St. There will be four classrooms demonstrating different aspects of Personalized Learning: • Learner Profiles: Families will learn what a learner profile is and what its importance is in building a relationship…

Students in the Robert T. Hill Middle School STEM Academy capped off National Computer Science Week by dedicating one hour to learning about computer programming on Friday, Dec. 7. The “Hour of Code” is organized by code.org and started as a one-hour introduction to computer science meant to demystify the “code” that goes into performing computerized tasks. On Friday at Hill, students were guided through a game-like program by volunteers from Accenture. Their actions guided an on-screen robot that collected the data they needed to complete the task. Applications are being accepted now through Jan. 31, 2019, to attend the…

A Spanish teacher at Dallas ISD’s Thomas J. Rusk Middle School won an award at the recent national foreign language conference, and was also invited to serve as a keynote speaker during the conference’s Assembly of Delegates. Akash Patel received the Leo Benardo Award for Innovation in K-12 Language Education from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). In front of the 500 delegates, he was asked to discuss dealing with the national teacher shortage and what drew and keeps him wanting to teach. His interest was sparked when he discovered a lack of teaching in schools centering…