2007 Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award
The Excellence in teaching with Technology Award is
presented to Ricardo Varguez, Westside High School in
Omaha, Nebraska. The selection of Ricardo for this award
acknowledges that he has been an impetus for integrating
instructional technology into Westside High School’s
World Languages department, throughout the building
and district, and beyond district boundaries. In only fi ve
short years, Ricardo has become a top-notch ambassador for instructional
technology and has proven himself to be the kind of future leader we must
welcome into our education and instructional technology with open arms.
Local Leadership Besides his effective teaching of World Languages (Spanish) 9-12 at Westside High School, his local achievements include serving as a key member of the Core Team that planned Westside’s One-to-One initiative in 2004. Even more important, Ricardo is a powerful model of technology integration for West- side teachers. He has always been eager to share his technology integration strategies with other teachers both inside and outside of his department so that they can improve their technology integration skills. Ricardo’s immedi- ate attraction for Blackboard led to interesting and novel uses of Blackboard’s discussion board as a tool for active participation. As a strong proponent of making student laptops an every day tool for learning, he advocated for and instituted technology based activities that other teachers could emulate. These activities include speaking and listening lessons, instructional podcasts, iMovie culture projects, and the use of e-mail to assess speaking and writing skills. In addition, Ricardo shares his technology experiences and expertise beyond district boundaries. He is frequently a featured presenter at local Apple seminars.
State, Regional, and National Activities On the state and national levels Ricardo has been featured as a master teacher on the Learning4theFuture training site, and his “Technology Tricks to Enhance Foreign Language Instruction” made him a popular presenter at the Nebraska International Languages conference in 2006. He will be a featured presenter at the regional World Languages conference in Detroit in 2008.
Ricardo is a member of these professional organizations: the American Association of teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, the American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages and the Nebraska International Languag- es Association.
Kevin Chin, one of Ricardo’s students, wrote in support of his teacher’s nomination for this award, “Mr. Varguez is quite simply one of the most creative teachers I’ve had. He is one of the few teachers that I have known to integrate technology as part of the class instead of having it as a secondary resource. By using technology Mr. Varguez has made a dull Advanced Placement class into a class where students look forward to being every day. His teaching style is unique and unparalleled, and that is what makes him an unforgettable teacher.”