Thursday, August 29, 2002

To Whom It May Concern:

I am pleased to write in support of Soterios Lallas, a biology teacher at Westby High School in Westby, Wisconsin, as Internet Educator of the Year.  I have had the pleasure of working with Mr. Lallas for the past ten years.  I have seen him work in his classroom and use technology to support his students’ learning. 

I am an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in La Crosse, WI.  Part of my responsibility is to take future teachers to Mr. Lallas’ high school for part of their preservice teaching experience.  Every semester, Mr. Lallas is willing to invite a university clinical student and a student teacher into his classroom.  The university clinical students always comment on what a wonderful classroom he has and how much they would like to be able to student teach with him.  They enjoy his classroom for several reasons.  Mr. Lallas sets up a positive, supportive classroom environment where students feel comfortable learning.  He also plans his science curriculum to challenge students and support their learning.  For example, Mr. Lallas has had students do experiments that are actually control experiments with the counterpart to the experiment happening on the space shuttle.  Students are able to know and experience that they are a part of a larger, important research study. 

A major reason why Mr. Lallas has such a good science curriculum and classroom environment is because of his use of technology.  He has computer stations for all the students in his classroom.  He was able to purchase these computers through grants and outside funding he obtained on his own.  He has developed his biology class so that it is web based.  The students do not need to depend on textbooks.  They can use their computers, explore the web, and do experiments to study various aspects of the curriculum. 

I feel this curriculum organization is particularly helpful for parents.  Students and their parents can look up Mr. Lallas’ web site and access information on what is covered each and every day in class and what the assignments are.  This is so much more convenient that the homework helplines that exist in so many schools and are so difficult to access.  Students can access his web site and its various links to support their learning outside of the classroom as reinforcement or extension of lessons. 

Mr. Lallas has a wonderful classroom for future teachers to visit.  He models reflectivity and life-long learning in his teaching.  His student teachers see how his curriculum develops over time. His student teachers see how to utilize computers, the Internet, and other technology as learning tools to support student learning.  I have heard many of our university students share their experiences from Mr. Lallas’ classroom with other university students who wish they could be in and experience his classroom. 

Mr. Lallas is a very good educator.  He is giving of his time to his students and to future teachers.  As a result, he is supporting high school students’ understanding of science and future teachers’ development as users of technology.  It is my pleasure and honor to work with him.  I heartily support Mr. Soterios Lallas as Internet Educator of the Year.     

Please contact me with any questions at shanks.joyc@uwlax.edu, or at 608-785-8657.

Sincerely,

Joyce Shanks, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Educational Studies

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

1725 State Street

La Crosse, WI 54601