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- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 13, 45.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 22 Aug 2009.
Cosby educator receives national award for innovative teaching program
Author: Duay O'Neil
COSBY-Sharon Balch, Cosby, a teacher at Jones Cove Elementary School, returned to classes this year with a $2,000 ING Unsung Heroes grant after recently being recognized as one of America's most innovative educators in the 2009 ING Unsung Heroes Award program.
She was one of 100 winners who received a $2,000 award to help fund her "Stream Ecology/Monitoring Water Quality" innovative idea and bring it to life in her classroom. She will now compete with other winners for one of the three top prizes-an addition $5,000, $10,000, or $25,000.
The ING Unsung Heroes awards program recognizes kindergarten through 12-grade educators nationwide for their innovative teaching methods, creative educational projects, and ability to positively influence the children they teach. Since honoring its first "unsung hero" 13 years ago, ING has awarded $3,2 million to nearly 1,4000 educators across the United States. The 2009 ING Unsung Heroes winners were selected from a group of more than 2,000 applicants-a record number of applications to date.
Students will not be the only ones tested at Jones Cove Elementary School this year. Balch has developed a project that will have the students test the quality of Yellow Breeches Creek, which is located at the foot of the hill upon which the school sits.
"Stream Ecology" is a science-based project that will allow students to monitor water quality. The students will collect chemical data from the Breeches Creek stream, including temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen content, nitrates levels in parts per million, and turbidity (cloudiness) of waters. The physical data capture will include the identification of macro-invertebrates (immature insects, crustaceans, worms, and mollusks) in the stream as well as stream discharge (the measurement of the amount of water that flows by a certain point in a particular time). Approximately 65 students in sixth through eighth grades will participate in the water quality project.
"We are honored to recognize the work of educators like Sharon Balch whose tireless efforts and dedication often go unnoticed," said Dan Hanlon, senior vice-president, Public Market Sales, ING U. S. Retirement Services. "Each day these heroes make the investment in the lives of America's schoolchildren to help prepare them for the future. The return on the investment is priceless because it will be in the success of our children as future leaders and in the foundation of our world for years to come."
ING is a global financial services company and leading provider of retirement plans and programs for teachers.
The former Sharon Butler, Balch is a graduate of Cosby High School and East Tennessee State University. She taught at Cosby High School for 15 years before accepting her present teaching position in Sevier County.
She and her husband have two children: Ben and Jessica. She is the daughter of Reva Butler, Cosby, and the late Eugene Butler.
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