Second-grade teacher Gayle Magee is a pioneer in the use of technology at Empire Elementary School in Carson City, Nevada. She was the first teacher at Empire to use a document camera in her lessons and encouraged the school to acquire more, helped install them in other classrooms and trained fellow teachers on how to use them. She also uses digital cameras to engage students and inspire writing. Her innovative approach to teaching is not limited to technology. Magee was instrumental in beginning Empire's looping program, providing students with consistency in academic growth over a two-year period. She has also employed flexible grouping, sharing students with fellow second-grade teachers to maximize learning. Despite the challenges of teaching a diverse population, with more than half of her students identified as English Language Learners (ELL), Magee has fostered measurable academic growth on standardized tests. Over the last two years, her students demonstrated a 30-point growth on the RIT scale developed by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA). Magee is facilitator of Empire's Lego Robotics enrichment program for fourth and fifth graders and a teacher in the X-Factor After-School Program. Member of the school and district Science Fair Committees, she helped her second-grade class win first place at the Reno Regional Science Fair two years in a row. She is co-facilitator of the School Improvement Planning Team and the School Leadership Team, and has served on numerous committees at the school and district level.
2001 University of Nevada - Reno, B.S.
