PSU professor and filmmaker discovers transformative teacher Centre Daily Times (State College, Pa.) Aug. 27, 2017 When Duval Elementary School in East Gainesville received an “F” on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test in 2002, shock waves jolted the administration, which faced cuts in state funding. That’s when long-time teacher Gloria Jean Merriex radically changed her approach. […]
The Republic
11-22-13
Algebra Nation
The Republic, a newspaper in Columbus, Ind., published a feature article about Algebra Nation. Don Pemberton and Boaz Dvir of the Lastinger Center for Learning are quoted in the story
The Gainesville Sun, The Tampa Tribune
11-15-13, 11-17-13
Algebra Nation 2.0
Articles in The Gainesville Sun and The Tampa Tribune covered the Nov. 1 release of Algebra Nation 2.0, the update to Algebra Nation, a digital algebra program created by the Lastinger Center for Learning and Study Edge. Boaz Dvir of the Lastinger Center is quoted in the story.
Directed and produced by award-winning University of Florida documentary filmmaker Boaz Dvir, “Discovering Gloria” tells the story of former Gainesville Duval Elementary School teacher Gloria Jean Merriex’s transformation into a trailblazing innovator and a national model.
“Discovering Gloria” screens Sept. 26 at 6:30 pm at Lincoln Middle School in Gainesville. The 90-minute program, which is sponsored by the UF College of Education’s Lastinger Center for Learning, includes opening remarks by Alachua County Public Schools Superintendent Dan Boyd and a post-screening panel discussion with UF leaders, professors and researchers. The event is free and open to the public.
“Gloria’s instinctive innovations have greatly informed our work,” said UF Lastinger Center Director Don Pemberton, who worked closely with Merriex. “She showed what an incredible difference a master teacher can make in the lives of vulnerable children.”
In 2008, Merriex received a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to create a national curriculum using her innovations. The next day, she suffered a fatal diabetic stroke.
The Sept. 26 documentary post-screening panel features Pemberton; Prof. Thomasenia Adams, associate dean for research at the UF College of Education; Prof. Elizabeth Bondy, director of the UF College of Education’s School of Teaching and Learning; Alachua County School Board Member Leanetta McNealy; Alachua County Public Schools Fine Arts Facilitator Angela Terrell; and University of Texas Assistant Prof. Emily Bonner, who’s flying in to participate in the event.
The panel also features two of the 35 former Merriex students expected to attend: Charlie Brown, a UF premed junior, and Jasmine Patterson, a Santa Fe College freshman.
An inspiring 40-minute documentary, “Discovering Gloria” shows Merriex engaging her math and reading students at the most effective levels through her innovations, which included hip-hop and dance routines.
In the film, Pemberton, Bondy and others who examined Merriex’s methods describe how she broke vital new ground.
“She didn’t move to using music because she studied Howard Gardner’s work about multiple intelligences,” Bondy says in the film. “She moved to using music and movement and the other strategies that she used because she studied her students.”
“Discovering Gloria” also shows how Merriex helped Duval leap from an F on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in 2002 to an A the following year.
“Gloria’s innovative approach of teaching her students using rhythm, rhyme and movement is legendary in the Duval Elementary School community,” Superintendent Boyd said. “Through this documentary, people outside that community will also have an opportunity to learn about Gloria’s methods and her many contributions to education.”
GAINESVILLE, Fla. —Written, directed and produced by award-winning University of Florida documentary filmmaker Boaz Dvir, “Discovering Gloria” tells the story of Duval Elementary (Gainesville) teacher Gloria Jean Merriex’s transformation into a trailblazing innovator and a national model.
“Discovering Gloria” screens Sept. 26 at 6:30 pm at Lincoln Middle School in Gainesville. The 90-minute program, which includes opening remarks by Alachua County Public Schools Superintendent Dan Boyd and a post-screening panel discussion with UF professors and researchers, is free and open to the public.
“Gloria’s innovative approach of teaching her students using rhythm, rhyme and movement is legendary in the Duval Elementary School community,” Boyd said. “Through this documentary, people outside that community will also have an opportunity to learn about Gloria’s methods and her many contributions to education.”
An inspiring 40-minute documentary, “Discovering Gloria” shows Merriex engaging her math and reading students at the most effective levels through her numerous innovations, which included hip-hop and dance routines. In the film, UF professors and doctoral students who examined her methods describe how she broke vital new ground.
“She didn’t move to using music because she studied Howard Gardner’s work about multiple intelligences,” said Buffy Bondy, director of UF’s School of Teaching and Learning who researched Merriex’s methods. “She moved to using music and movement and the other strategies that she used because she studied her students.”
The also film shows how Merriex helped Duval leap from an F on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in 2002 to an A the following year.
“This documentary reveals her desire to do so much as a math teacher at Duval Elementary School,” said retired educator Andrew R. Mickle. “Her unique gifts run deep in both her personality and her beliefs in a special method of teaching math. The result speaks for itself.”
The Gainesville Sun
7-21-13
Algebra Nation
A Gainesville Sun article featured the expansion and success of Algebra Nation, a digital project by the Lastinger Center for Learning and Study Edge. Boaz Dvir and Dom Pemberton of the Lastinger Center and Alicia Stephenson of P.K. Yonge Developmental School were quoted in the story.
The Gainesville Sun
7-21-13
Algebra Nation
A Gainesville Sun article featured the expansion and success of Algebra Nation, a digital project by the Lastinger Center for Learning and Study Edge. Boaz Dvir and Don Pemberton of the Lastinger Center and Alicia Stephenson of P.K. Yonge Developmental School were quoted in the story.
After hearing from teachers who actively engaged with Algebra Nation in its trial period, the state Legislature has invested $2 million to expand the reach and impact of the University of Florida’s innovative program to help students succeed on the high-stakes End-of-Course exam.
Developed by UF’s Lastinger Center for Learning in partnership with the Florida Department of Education and Gainesville-based Study Edge, Algebra Nation offers Florida’s teachers, students and parents a free, accessible, interactive 24/7 online resource and supplemental instructional tool aligned with the latest state standards.
“We had planned to continue self-financing Algebra Nation in its second pilot year,” UF Lastinger Center Director Don Pemberton said. “We are honored that the Florida Legislature has independently recognized that Algebra Nation is making a difference for teachers, students and parents throughout the state.”
The UF Lastinger Center plans to substantially expand Algebra Nation’s reach and impact in many ways, including:
For Florida’s high school students, the Algebra 1 EOC is as high stakes as it gets — it determines their future. They must pass it to graduate. About 48 percent of ninth-graders failed the spring 2013 Algebra 1 End-of-Course exam.
“We’ve created Algebra Nation to help Florida students succeed in this key STEM subject,” said Joy Schackow, UF STEM professor-in-residence in Pinellas County who serves as Algebra Nation’s math expert. “Algebra serves as a gatekeeper to success in high school and beyond.”
Since it launched Jan. 15, Algebra Nation has exceeded expectations. More than half of Florida’s middle and high school algebra teachers, representing 900 schools in all 67 school districts, have used this learning ecosystem. In and out of the classrooms, teachers and students showed and watched the Algebra Nation instructional videos more than 116,000 times.
Students have posted as many as 1,000 daily inquiries, answers and comments on the Algebra Wall, which is monitored in real time by Algebra Nation study experts.
“Research tells us that peer-tutoring is one of the most effective ways to learn,” said Boaz Dvir, UF’s Algebra Nation project manager. “On our Algebra Wall, students feel free to ask even the simplest questions. The discussions they spark and the answers they elicit are simultaneously individualized and universal.”
Students also post feedback to the Algebra Nation team, including:
Teachers are equally appreciative. For instance, Ponte Vedra High School algebra teacher Janice Rausch wrote, “Thank you so much for developing a great resource like Algebra Nation. There are so many fantastic links and resources that I have really loved using in my class. Next year, I would love to use some of your lessons as I go. I have loved using your resources by section to reteach and ‘remind’ them about challenging topics. Thanks again for creating such a rich and wonderful resource!”
Housed in the UF College of Education, the Lastinger Center is an educational innovation incubator. It harnesses the university’s intellectual resources to design, build, field-test and scale models that advance teaching, learning and healthy child development. The center continuously evaluates and refines its work, widely disseminates its findings and roots its initiatives in a growing network of partner sites around the state and country.
Study Edge is a Gainesville-based enterprise that helps college students improve their outcomes. Its founding president, Ethan Fieldman, was the first winner of the Cade Museum Prize for Innovation.
SOURCE/WRITER: Boaz Dvir, UF Lastinger Center for Learning, bdvir@coe.ufl.edu; 352-273-0289
