Fort Bend Independent School District NEWS RELEASE FROM COMMUNITY RELATIONS Keryn Miles, Communications Specialist keryn.miles@fortbendisd.com    281.634.1100

**  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  **

Fort Bend ISD's New Teacher Orientation Draws More Than 400 Attendees

FORT BEND ISD ― More than 420 first-time and experienced teachers, nurses, librarians, Instructional Technology Specialists, and other personnel who are new to Fort Bend ISD attended the District’s Annual New Teacher Orientation, held August 10-13 at Austin High School. The event gave participants the opportunity to learn about the school district and its priorities for 2009-2010, and take part in various professional development sessions throughout the three days. New teachers to Fort Bend ISD not only enjoyed the District’s new employee orientation seminar but also participated in sessions on differentiated instruction, positive classroom management strategies, student engagement, PDAS, professional learning communities (data teams) and curriculum initiatives.

Welcoming participants to the event were Dr. Timothy Jenney, FBISD Superintendent; Bob Broxson, FBISD School Board President; Larry Senegal, 2006 FBISD Secondary Teacher of the Year; and Kathy Mathison, Coordinator of Organizational Development. The opening keynote speaker was author and educator Rafe Esquith. Author Ron Nash was the featured speaker for the conference and focused on teaching strategies to actively engage students in learning. The Austin High School Orchestra also provided musical performances for everyone.

The theme of this year’s event was “Investing in our Future as We Invest in You.” Dr. Jenney reminded teachers of how much they are valued and said, “The collective impact of the valuable contributions made by teachers helps shape our future and our destiny. We are in the business of preparing students to be the leaders of tomorrow and your leadership role as a teacher in our classrooms is vital.”

Photo 1: Shown (from left to right) are: Larry Senegal, Dr. Timothy Jenney, Kathy Mathison, and Board President Bob Broxson. [photo, NTO-1]

Photo 2: Pictured (from left) are: Marilyn Cleland, ESL teacher at Hodges Bend Middle School; Beverley Dixon, FBISD Grants Coordinator; and Ashley Armstrong, P.E./Health teacher at Baines Middle School. [photo, NTO-2]

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