Nominated by Bruce Penniman
Teacher High School/Secondary (ages 14-18) at Western Massachusetts Writing Project
Amherst, Massachusetts, United States

I am a public school educator with 35 years’ experience teaching English at Amherst Regional High School in western Massachusetts. In 1999 I was selected as Massachusetts Teacher of the Year and was one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year. But for this nomination I am writing in my capacity of Director of the Western Massachusetts Writing Project, a local site of the National Writing Project, one of the most highly regarded professional development programs for teachers in the nation.

Kevin Hodgson has been a teacher-consultant with WMWP for the past three years. He completed our Invitational Summer Institute and a follow-up Advanced Institute in Technology, and soon afterwards became our site’s Technology Liaison, which means that he is responsible for helping teachers infuse technology into their professional development work. Kevin has fulfilled this role with great enthusiasm and effectiveness. Last year he helped our Reading Initiative teachers design a website to showcase their work. He has also been instrumental in creating interactive weblogs for our Summer Institute and a newsletter weblog for our site.

Kevin’s crowning achievement to date has been his Making Connections project, for which he received a $15,000 grant from the National Writing Project, to be renewed next year for another $15,000. This grant is based on the idea that technology could be used not only to teach students literacy skills but also to foster a sense of community across boundaries of geography, race, and class. In this project, Kevin is working with middle school teachers in two low-income communities in our area. One is Holyoke, a small, post-industrial city in which 80% of the school population is Latino and many of the students are not native speakers of English. The other community is Athol, a poor rural town with high unemployment and limited opportunities. Twelve teachers from these schools came together for a one-week institute during the summer, at which they learned technological tools, including weblogs, and designed a project for their fall classes. The next week, they went back to their schools to lead free, on-line summer writing camps for their students. This gave the teachers an opportunity to try out their new skills. During the fall semester, the teachers have been implementing a curriculum focused on community. Students from the two locales have introduced themselves on line and engaged in several other writing activities designed to promote community pride and bridge the cultural gaps between them. To date, the students have made hundreds of posts. Soon the teachers will come together to evaluate the project and prepare for its second year.

Kevin’s work with other teachers has been so successful because it is based on his own classroom practice. As a sixth-grade writing teacher, he has his students engage in a wide variety of writing activities, many of which involve publication and performance. He maintains a class weblog, to which students and parents can log in to read and post comments on students’ writng.

For his outstanding work, Kevin has been featured in local newspapers several times. He has also presented at local, regional, and national conferences. Within the National Writing Project Technology Liaisons Network and at our own site, Kevin has a reputation for hard work, competence, and efficiency. He is also an exceptional writer, having had a previous career as a reporter and having been selected as a finalist in the New England Association of Teachers of English Poetry Contest.

Although he is still a relatively new teacher, Kevin has already had an extraordinary career. He is an exemplary teacher and teacher-leader, and this award would be an appropriate accolade for him.

The section below lists the testimonials that have been reviewed and approved by the candidate.

1. Testimonial from Andrew Habana Hafner (1)
Teacher Middle School (ages 11-14) at Univ of Mass & Holyoke Public Schools
United States

I am pleased to provide a positive recommendation for Kevin Hodgson for the GSN Award. I've had the pleasure of working with Kevin reently in two capacities as a public school teacher and as a university researcher.

As a middle school teacher in Western Massachusetts, I worked with Kevin as participant in the Making Connections pilot program, a weblogging project of the Western Mass Writing Project, local affiliate of the National Writing Project. Kevin coordinated and outlaid the general vision for the program aimed on building community and understanding across diverse geographic, social and cultural-linguistic communities through on-line weblogs. Kevin’s initial introduction of the project’s community orientation at the start of the professional development week was encouraging that there was an even balance with technology objectives not overshadowing the curricular goals and social messages. In a fitting coincidence, Kevin suggested the use of Paul Fleischman’s Seedfolk, which is a recognized piece of juvenile literature that delves into the complex sociocultural dynamics of multicultural American cities which are mosaic’s of global cultures and people’s. A colleague and I had just been discussing this powerful text for our own purposes as the literature base for an integrated service learning unit focused on urban environmental awareness to engage the highly transient students in investing in their school and community. Kevin’s initial discussion of this text was an exciting surprise for us, which increased our interest and hopes for the blogging project in building academic and technological literacy for wider purposes of community development.

As the professional development unfolded, I was also pleasantly excited at Kevin's commitment to allow our new learning community to have direct ownership for the development of the pilot curriculum which began with the summer literacy/blogging camp and the curriculum implemented throughout the fall of this year. His willingness to place himself as a co-collaborator at the table for the majority of the curricular development process is itself a strong indication of the community orientation behind the project that was being realized in process as well as content and product. Kevin's collegiality and facilitation skills as a co-teacher were strong encouragement to all participants to invest in one another, the program, and the importance of bridging cultural understandings and friendship among local communities. Kevin was a patient and thoughtful trainer for many participants who were new to technology and weblogging; moreover, he kept these natural concerns and anxieties in mind as he facilitated our collaborative discussions about what was feasible for the project. When the needs and concerns of public school teachers are often not used as the basis of policy, it was encouraging to follow his patient and practical leadership in the blogging project; this commitment to collaboration and supportive staff development is certainly something in greater need at the local school level.

Another aspect of our relationship has been our on-going dialogue and negotiation about wider collaboration for documenting and reflecting on the Making Connections program. I had approached Kevin about my own research activities as part of my doctoral studies and that there was an opportunity to conduct video documentation of the entire project. Kevin was open to listening to shared ideas and was pro-active in exploring the possible proposals with his own program directors from the National Writing Project. This added collaboration will hopefully contribute to more systematic program evaluation to improve revisions of this pilot project for the future.

Kevin's willingness to explore new opportunities for partnerships and collaboration - not merely surrounding the potential of technology, but focused more on promoting positive social interaction - reflects a needed willingness and commitment to quality programming in this age of high stakes educational reform. Moving the field of education forward will require greater and more intense collaboration both vertically and horizontally through our educational systems. New reforms, programs and curricula are not new; however, the ones of greatest impact and sustainability are those that are not dropped from the top-down, but have the organic opportunities to be affected by those affected; to grow from the bottom up. Kevin’s value of democratic group process and the human technology of collaborative social interaction at varied levels and contexts works to further advance the weblogging project goals to plant seeds of understanding, in literal and virtual community spaces.

2. Testimonial from Maria Lourdes Angala (2)
Teacher Junior High School (ages 12-15) at Jefferson Jr HS Washington DC
United States

In my school, I have created our school Online Newsletter (http://jeffersonjuniorhighschool.blog-city.com) and a group of students to maintain and publish in the school community weblog. These students are now being trained for PODCASTING, Photography, Cyberjournalism, Web design, etc... by the Advisory Committee. They are now writing and publishing for the school's website, will create their own personal websites, and collaborate with a school in Western Massachusetts for the "CyberPals Project".

The CYBERPALS PROJECT is the new project that I am collaborating with Mr. Kevin Hodgson from William E. Norris Elementary School in Western Massachusetts. This collaborative project is designed to create a shared writing space for students who are geographically distant, by young writers from Washington DC to young writers from Western Massachusetts.

It is indeed a privilege for me to meet Mr. Hodgson in one of our National Writing Project Annual Conventions. He's a great thinker and shared to me his ideas of starting a technology project that would connect our students digitally. Thanks to Mr. Hodgson for being persistent in getting me involved in this and the NWP for giving us a website space and sponsoring this blog project for our students.

With Mr. Hodgson’s initiative, the CyberPals Project has helped the students express themselves better in writing where they are also able to use correctly the rules of Grammar and English. They took writing more seriously, knowing that they actually have readers whom they want to please with their writings. Some stars who used to be dull started to shine. I myself didn’t think she was a star, I didn’t realize that her writings were really that good until she got more positive comments in her page; that made her feel good about his writings that he couldn’t get his hands off the computer. Some students remarked: “I can’t believe I typed this much! ...I can’t believe I can write poems”. Mr. Hodgson’s passion for writing does not only impact his colleagues schoolwide, districtwide and nationwide, but also the students involved in his noble projects.

In the third floor of our school building, that big banner says, “TECHNOLOGY brings you to places". Yes indeed. Obviously, Mr. Hodgson draws upon resources and learning multi-culturally. Our CyberPals Teams are composed of not just students from different States but also of different cultural ethnicity (African Americans, Filipinos, Chinese, Hispanics, Caucasians). Consequently, they introduce themselves and promote their place of origin where they’re able to make new discoveries about the world and about themselves. Mr. Hodgson encourages the students to write more by leaving positive comments on the students’ entries and writing his own piece to set an example. This particular motivation of a teacher provides instruction and understanding of this project by the students in a manner that students sanction as fun and interesting.

This project that I pioneered with Mr. Hodgson is still in its early stage, and it does not only target collaboration, multi-culturalism and technology. It has more to that which will only surface when we are in full blast of our work with Teachers using Technology across the nation. His passion for this project is indeed contagious.

I highly recommend and support Mr. Hodgson in his application for this noble award.

3. Testimonial from Deborah Piragis (3)
Teacher Middle School (ages 11-14) at Athol Royalston Middle School
United States

Dear Committee:

I am writing this testimonial on behalf of Kevin Hodgson and the work that he has done on the Creating Community Through Writing project involving Athol and Holyoke middle schools. After reviewing the standards that you are looking for in the recipient of this award, I believe that Kevin is an excellent candidate. Many people have great ideas, but it is time, effort and dedication that makes these ideas come alive. This is what Kevin Hodgson is all about: making it happen! I am an eighth grade Language Arts teacher who has been directly involved with teaching writing through technology with Kevin. My role in the project was to coordinate lessons on a weblog with teachers from two other schools. I teach in Athol and we coordinated with two schools from Holyoke. Our overarching goal for this project was to create a single community of learners from very different places. Throughout the project, we were focused on learning about each others’ worlds and respecting the differences in them, as well as linking these students to each other as active learners. It really became a project that taught technology, writing, and tolerance. I have been teaching for eight years and this is one of the most creative projects that I have been involved in. The students were truly excited and their eagerness to write was contagious. Some of the students even came to class early and asked if they could begin right way! Now, that says something. We live in a very small ad isolated town, so I think the biggest impact was that students in the program felt like they were part of the real world. They were using modern technology and all of their class-mates wanted to know about it. Some of these students wouldn’t have spoken to their peers all year otherwise. So, not only did this project impact their academic world, it also has had a huge impact on a social level, giving these young people an extra boost of confidence. What has made this project successful is, without a doubt, Kevin’s leadership and dedication. Kevin took this idea of creating a community of writers from scratch and make it into a successful program for everyone. The level of learning for me as a teacher was high. Kevin was able to take a group of twelve teachers, some of us with very little internet experience, and encourage us to take this risk in our classrooms! He just dept reminding us that finding and tackling obstacles was a big part of this program. Kevin always addressed our concerns, no matter what time of day, and used them for an opportunity for reflection and adjustment. I believe that this program would never have been half as successful if it were not for the leadership and dedication of Kevin Hodgson.

4. Testimonial from Meghan Hurley (4)
Student at William E.Norris Elementry School
United States

My name is Meghan Hurley and I am a student in Mr. Hodgson’s sixth grade class at William E. Norris School. When our class first heard that we were going to use technology in class we were very excited. We did not have a technology class since second grade. A lot of kids only knew how to instant message and search the internet at home. But this gave the class the understanding of how computers could be used in school on a regular basis. He taught us different ways to find information for History, Science and Literature. The first thing we learned on the computers was PowerPoint. We had to make up a culture and give all the details like language, sports and defense. The first presentation was the hardest because we had to learn how the program worked, including slide transitions, how to use clip art and how to present PowerPoint. He always gave us time for questions. By working in a group, it was easier to get up in front of the class together. Now it is a lot easier and fun to use. I even made PowerPoint presentations at my grandparents house about my favorite actress and other things I like to do. This is how I can share my ideas with my cousins who go to different schools. The next thing he introduced us to was our weblog. Since there are four sixth grade classes, we all use it to communicate with each other. We also post our latest writing projects. We type it in a box, save it, and then post it for everyone to read. It’s fun to read my friends’ stories too. I like sharing my work with my family at home on our computer. Also when using an online website, we got to experiment and record a group puppet play. It was exciting because we had never done that before. Another thing we can do is if we lost a guideline for a test or a rubric for a project, we can click on a link and print out a copy. This helps to organize our time at home. Mr. Hodgson recently taught us how to use a wiki. It is a collaborative story online. He tells us to use our imagination. Someone will start a story in depth by writing a paragraph or two to tell about the characters. Then someone else will start where the person left off. The story can get strange and funny depending on how creative you are. After a while someone will stop it and end the story, which may take a couple of weeks. I liked reading the wiki at home after school. It made me wonder how it would turn out. I look forward to Writing class with Mr. Hodgson because it is so interesting. Since there are enough computers for everyone, we use them very often. We even shared what we knew about Microsoft Word with the third graders. They were excited to learn too .I can’t wait to learn more ways to use the computer. Mr. Hodgson is a great teacher!

5. Testimonial from Nancy Stenberg (5)
Librarian at Lynch Middle School Holyoke, MA
United States

I first met Kevin this summer through the Western Mass Writing Project, part of the larger National Writing Project, a federally grant funded initiative to bring writing and technology together. Kevin is the leader of our group. Our group is 11 teachers, three from the town of Athol, MA, and the rest from the city of Holyoke, MA. Our initiative involves creating an online community with selected middle school students. Our charge is to have the students get to know each other through a blog, and the simultaneous creation of several projects to be shared online through the blog. Kevin is our mentor and all around problem solver with regards to the collaboration. He constantly monitors the blog to make sure things are happening as needed. He is always available to answer questions and provide gentle reminders of how to navigate new areas on the blog. In addition to the work with the Western MA Writing Project, Kevin has introduced us to several other ways of merging technology in our own classrooms and libraries through the use of such sites as portaportal.com, seedwiki.com, and others. All is all he has been an exceptional mentor for those of us eager to bring technology to the forefront of our students daily work.

6. Testimonial from Jon Forance (6)
Student at William E. Norris Elementary School
USA Minor Outlying Islands

To whom it may concern: 1/11/06

I am writing on behalf of Mr. Kevin Hodgson, my 6th grade writing teacher at the William E. Norris School. Working and learning from Mr. Hodgson these past 5 months has been a privilege. Although I have always enjoyed creative writing, it wasn’t until this year that I have really become inspired to write even more. Through the introduction of Weblogs using our new laptop computers, Mr. Hodgson has encouraged and motivated me to take my writings further and be even more imaginative. This has helped me to not only improve my writing skills but increase my computer skills as well. Having the opportunity to incorporate technology and creativity is a great learning tool for every subject. It has been interesting to go on the Weblogs to see other student’s work and share ideas. Using this technology has given me the chance to connect more with other classmates. It’s also exciting for parents to see what we are doing in class from week to week as it can be accessed from home. Seeing my work posted or displayed makes me feel very proud. Mr. Hodgson makes every class and every assignment an adventure. Many lessons are taught through games and interactive play involving every student. This past trimester we were assigned in groups to write original scripts about the creation of an imaginary holiday. Each script was entered onto the COWS, (computers on wheels), for everyone to see and appreciate each others work. We then created character puppets which we used to perform our plays in front of the entire school. Mr. Hodgson not only sparked our imaginations in writing but gave us the chance to be artistic with props, allowed us the opportunity to perform before a live audience, and recorded our voices onto the website. This was just one of the many interesting computer activities we have done so far. Having a teacher like Mr. Hodgson who is so excited about teaching makes all of us students more excited about learning. He is always very supportive and encouraging with our ideas and teaches with a lot of enthusiasm which makes learning fun! Writing class is now one of my favorite subjects and Mr. Hodgson is definitely one of my favorite teachers. Thanks to Mr. Hodgson, I along with my friends are now inspired to try and publish our very own stories to put into book form and submit on line. Who knows maybe someday I will become a famous author or journalist! If so I will have Mr. Hodgson to thank. I hope you will consider Mr. Kevin Hodgson for this prestigious award. He truly deserves to be recognized and honored for all his hard work, energy, and commitment. We here at the William E. Norris School are better students because of him and I personally am very grateful for all that he has taught me. Sincerely, Jon Forance 6th Grader-William E. Norris School

7. Testimonial from Michael Flynn (7)
Teacher Elementary/Primary (ages 5-12) at William E. Norris Elementary
United States

From his first year at our school, Kevin worked to make connections between his class and the others at each grade level. Whether it was a presentation of puppet shows or short plays written and performed by his students, classes from all grade levels were welcome to enjoy the performances. Sitting in the audience during these shows, I was amazed to see how excited his sixth graders were to perform their stories or plays for a large audience. There was a clear sense of pride in their work and an eagerness to please the spectators. I was also struck by the quality of the students’ writing. It was clear they enjoyed their craft. Last year Kevin approached me with an idea of combining his sixth graders with my second graders for a digital storytelling/claymation project. In essence, the students designed and wrote stories together. They then created clay characters and backgrounds which were then photographed using digital cameras. The students used Windows Movie Maker to edit the clips and record their reading of each story. With the project complete, we aired the show over our internal cable network so the rest of the school could enjoy the stories. This collaboration allowed my second graders to engage in the writing process in more complex ways by working with older writers with larger vocabularies and more experience as writers. The sixth graders needed to convey their understanding of story structure, pacing, and other aspects of the writing process to my second graders in a way that would make sense to them. Essentially they needed to reflect on their own understanding of the writing process in order to communicate it to the younger students. Clearly this project was mutually beneficial. Additionally, all of us were able to learn the art of storytelling via technology. For the students, it was a completely new way of expressing ideas and they loved every minute of it. In fact, they wanted to do more, but we finished the project at the end of the year. This collaboration also helped me as a teacher. It was impressive to see the possibilities this technology afforded. I have since been using it with my students in various capacities. From other versions of digital storytelling to the creation of documentaries, my students are now enjoying the benefits of technology. This project epitomizes Kevin’s approach to teaching. He looks for creative ways his students can express themselves. In addition, he shares those ideas with his colleagues in hopes they can try them with their students. For him, it’s about engaging both students and teachers in new ideas. Kevin has been an asset to our school and is a perfect candidate for the GSN Online Shared Learning Award.

8. Testimonial from Eva Eaton (8)
Teacher Middle School (ages 11-14) at Athol-Royalston Middle School
United States

Kevin Hodgson was very instrumental in establishing the "Making Connections Project", an Internet writing initiative sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Writing Project. He designed the BLOG for both the summer project, as well as the fall "Writing Through Technology" projects." It is through Kevin's efforts that the project has reached the current level of participation. No program has ever been instituted without problems. But because Kevin is a very thorough individual and an innovative problem solver, many issues that could have become barriers were minimized or eliminated through foresight and planning. When problems did occur, I always found Kevin to be approachable and responsive. He is committed both to the project and to resolving difficulties that might inhibit success. As the BLOG writing project evolves, it will achieve objectives, due in no small part to the effort and diligence of Kevin Hodgson. For his continued support and enthusiasm, he has my respect, and should be commended.