Teachers earn Impact II awards

Moorpark High School instructors Ginger Brandenburg and Donna Fulgham, along with Lucia Lemieux, a teacher at Los Cerritos Middle School in Thousand Oaks, earned the top awards at the 16th annual 2008 Impact II teacher recognition dinner held in May at the Courtyard Marriott in Oxnard.

Brandenburg and Fulgham received the Ed Lyon Excellence in Education Award for the "most useful and replicable" project.

Their joint lesson plan, "Romeo and Juliet Needed the ABCs of Resiliency: Accepting Adversity, Bouncing Back, Coping and Choosing," uses literary characters such as Romeo and Juliet and real-life scenarios to have students examine choices made in difficult times so that they can learn coping strategies for dealing with challenges and disappointments.

The Ventura County Economic Development Association funded Brandenburg and Fulgham's $500 award bonus, and the teachers also earned a $500 grant from their business partner, the Ventura Commerce in Education Foundation.

Brandenburg, individually, also earned a $500 grant from the Ventura County Star's "Star in Education Foundation."

She earned the grant for her project "Saving the Sanity of Teachers and the Panic of Students," which challenges students to write group essays.

Lemieux received this year's Superintendent's Award, established to encourage teachers to submit Impact II projects in a specific discipline.

This year's discipline was fine arts in the classroom.

Lemieux's project, "History Almost Alive," helps students fully explore pre- and post-Civil War history by evaluating what they read in their history texts and synthesizing the key concepts into two distinct projects.

Lemieux received a $500 bonus from State Farm Insurance, in addition to a $500 grant from her business partner, also State Farm Insurance.

Impact II is a National Diffusion Network Program that serves teachers in Ventura County and the local business community.

The program fosters teacher/ business partnerships that support teacher recognition and curriculum sharing opportunities.

Following are the Impact II award winners, their projects and business partners.

•Ann Cuevas of Moorpark High School, "Learning Spanish Grammar through Comics." Business partner: State Farm Insurance.

•Kathy Wadley, Karen Davis, Tiffany Armas, Judy Crenshaw, Christine Elliott and Gerri Junso of La Mariposa School, "Animals: An Integrated Thematic Unit." Business partner: Amgen Foundation.

•Wendi Best of Mesa School, "Trees." Business partner: AERA Energy.

•Lynne Matthews, Gina Medina, Jennifer Merchant, Patricia Bednar and Angela Myrick of Rancho Rosal School, "From Field to Table: Exploring California Crops." Business partner: UC Hansen Trust.

•Nancy Tracy of Lang Ranch School, "Got Books?" Business partner: Blois Construction.

•Suzanne Zeiler of Camarillo High School, "The Puppet Story." Business partner: Ventura County Star.

•Tim Farrell, Rebecca Friday, Jodi Atkinson, Karen Allen, Tina Smith and Tim Pryor of Camarillo Heights Elementary School, "Oh, Johnny, Oh!" Business partner: Southern California Edison.

•Cathi Peterson, Robin Dalbey, Robert Waggoner, Nerida Hodge, Rosemary Pampuch, Brynn Stotko and Kathleen Spane of Rancho Rosal School, "The Forum: Inspiring the 21st Century Student." Business partner: Amgen Foundation.

•Peter Daland of Moorpark High School, "Year in History: All that Happened in One Year." Business partner: Procter & Gamble.

•Camille Kavon of CAPE Charter School, "Xenolithic Writing." Business partner: Blois Construction.

•Karen Hebert of Santa Rosa Technology School, "Virtual Tours of the California Missions." Business partner: Affinity Bank.

•Shannon Casanova, Gail Brockett, Stacey Quiles, Jeannette Huntting, Chris Rudolph and Christie Kyriacou of La Mariposa School, "Geology Rocks!" Business partner: Amgen Foundation.

•Terry Arena of Adolfo Camarillo High School, "Alphabet Soup." Business partner: Santa Barbara Bank & Trust.

•Carol Wyenn of Royal High School, "UN Conference on Global Issues." Business partner: Ventura County Economic Development Association.

•Ginger Brandenburg of Moorpark High School, "Saving the Sanity of Teachers and the Panic of Students." Business partner: Ventura County Star.

•Lucia Lemieux of Los Cerritos Middle School, "Build a Better (Book) Report." Business partner: State Farm Insurance.

•Ginger Brandenburg and Donna Fulgham of Moorpark High School, "Romeo and Juliet Need the ABCs of Resiliency: Accepting Adversity, Bouncing Back, Coping and Choosing." Business partner: Ventura Commerce and Education Foundation.

•Lucia Lemieux of Los Cerritos Middle School, "History (Almost) Alive!" Business partner: State Farm Insurance.