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Published Sunday, June 3, 2001

 

Teacher's creative website makes the grade

Innovation wins top recognition

BY DEBRA LEIBOWITZ
Herald Writer

Each day after school this year, second-grade students in the foreign language program at North Beach Elementary excitedly have turned on their home computers to log on to a special website -- the one painstakingly created by their teacher, Maria Elena Gyory.

The children can't wait to see what's in store for them.

They consider the site ``theirs'' too, because Gyory has encouraged her students to be part of it.

``I think the website is very fun and very helpful 'cause you learn things on it, too,'' says Vanessa Zacroisky, 8. ``Mrs. Gyory is a great teacher and she's very smart. Only a smart person could make such a great website.''

``I think she's a good teacher -- very sweet and nice. The website is cool because we put a lot of work into it and we all love it,'' says 8-year-old Samantha Lichtschein.

In addition to categories dedicated to homework, extra credit, class photos, a personalized grade book and games, the colorful site features lots of input from the kids.

There are students' views on ``How to Survive Second Grade,'' how they imagine themselves ``20 Years from Now'' and a compilation of the best advice their mothers ever gave them.

There are also beautifully ``framed'' self-portraits and student autobiographies -- in Spanish, of course.

For all of her efforts, Gyory recently won first place in the fourth annual Crystal Santiago Web Page Contest, a countywide competition sponsored by the Florida Association of Computer Educators and the Dade County Media Specialists Association.

Gyory's website, www.dade.k12.fl.us/nbeach/mgyory, was voted ``Best in the Elementary School Category.''

Many of Gyory's second-grade students begged their parents to drive them at night -- in the pouring rain -- from the Beach to West Kendall to attend the awards event.

They all wanted to share the moment.

``It was so cute when the kids started coming in,'' says Gyory. ``They were so happy. They were so excited that I won -- in part because of all of their input.''

``Mrs. Gyory's site shows not only the use of technology, but the wonderful projects that she works on with her students. We need more people to be as excited as she is about learning and teaching,'' says Lourdes Blanco-Lopez, chairperson for the Crystal Santiago Web Page Contest.

``Last year, I didn't know anything about computers. I had to ask my children how you plug it in,'' admits Gyory, 48.

The Kendall resident has been married to architect John Gyory for 24 years and they have three children, ages 21, 20 and 15.

Born in Cuba, Gyory's family moved to New York in the 1960s, then lived in Switzerland for several years before settling in Venezuela.

It was there that Gyory received her teaching degree in 1979.

She initially taught English to adult students at a Venezuelan university but found it ``too predictable,'' so she changed her major to elementary education.

``I wanted to teach in a different way -- to try new things with kids to motivate them,'' Gyory says.

A teacher at North Beach for the past four years, Gyory began teaching the Spanish portion of the school's Extended Foreign Language (Spanish-English) program this year.

She teaches in partnership with Maria Lourdes Rodriguez, a close friend whom Gyory says has helped and encouraged her throughout the year.

Gyory initially learned about computers and the Internet out of necessity while taking a class last year at Nova University.

She then began to explore -- and create -- her own website, mainly as a place to post homework for her students.

``Kids and parents seemed to like it,'' she says.

So she kept at it, reviewing other teachers' websites to learn what was out there and how it all worked.

Gyory spent that entire summer -- often up to eight hours each day -- learning the language required to expand her site.

She says she now spends an hour or two each day updating it.

Her time seems to have been well spent. This year, in addition to winning the Crystal Santiago Web Page Contest, Gyory was also named Teacher of the Year at North Beach.

Principal Aida Marrero says: ``Gyory is one of my top teachers in terms of creativity and technology. She takes it upon herself to learn even more on her own time. She is a good example of what teachers can do in the classroom if they are creative.''

Gyory says she plans to continue expanding her website because she feels it ``improves communication between the school, students and their families.''

She recently added a special tribute on the site to her father, Osvaldo S. Perez, who suffered a stroke two months ago.

In it, she shares a poem her dad wrote before he got sick.

She hopes it will be an inspiration to others.

This is part of continuing Miami Herald series profiling teachers who do their jobs every day, but seldom get recognized for it. If you know of a teacher we should spotlight, send us their name, the school where they work and a brief description of what they do. Please include your name and telephone number. Fax the information to 305-671-4350 or e-mail joneill@herald.com No phone calls, please.


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