Science teacher Karen Kelly designs differentiated instruction plans to reach each of her students at Parkway Central Middle School in Chesterfield. She keeps her students, including gifted, learning- disabled, and English as a Second Language learners, engaged in interesting projects such as designing Web sites, directing movies and creating labs to solve real problems. Mrs. Kelly developed an after-school peer tutoring program, and initiated a buddy system in which her students teach science lessons to kindergartners. Always focused on helping children recognize their talents, she requires them to examine their own tests to determine which teaching techniques work best for them. A Christa McAuliffe Fellow and Missouri's Technology Teacher of the Year for 1998, Ms. Kelly is a National Board Certified Teacher in the area of Early Adolescent Science. She has presented seminars at local and national levels, including twice at the School Tech Expo in New York City. She also sponsors Parkway Central Middle School's Yearbook Club. Ms. Kelly is working on her dissertation and will be awarded her Ph.D. in Summer of 2012.
2012 University of Missouri - St. Louis, Ph. D
1995 University of Missouri - St. Louis, M. Ed.
1990 St. Louis University, B.A.
