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Agoura High student wins essay contest about teacher
Stephen entered a nationwide Texas Instruments essay contest asking students to demonstrate how a teacher has affected a pupil's academic success by using a TI graphing calculator. Stephen's essay was chosen as the best of thousands of entries. He won the $1,000 grand prize, and Bacharach chose a $7,500 cash prize over a vacation package. Even Agoura High School won. The school will receive 30 Texas Instruments graphing calculators, worth an estimated $100 apiece. At the Jan. 9 Las Virgenes Unified School District board meeting, Stephen received a certificate of achievement from the board members. "Mr. Bacharach was the first teacher who ever made me want to pursue math outside of school," Stephen said. "He related it to my life." Stephen's essay related that he had always considered math a dry subject. "Oftentimes, the only extended study I was given was a simple one page 'lesson' that essentially told me what buttons to push on my calculator," he wrote. "If I push them like it suggested, my answer would look like the one in the book. What did I learn? Nothing." Stephen said Bacharach's math analysis class was different. "It took him only 10 minutes . . . to entirely blow me out of the water," he wrote. "Using a simple TI-89 calculator and a projector, he was able to teach the class how so many different aspects of life tied into math. I learned about geophysics and ergs, about space and time, and one day he even revealed to me some of the math behind snowboarding, which happened to be my favorite activity." Bacharach said technology has opened up many teaching opportunities. "Before, it was static," he said of math concept instruction. "(Now) I can show how one thing changes into another. It illuminates things you might not have noticed beforehand." Bacharach said he used to write calculations, problems and formulas "standing at a white board. Agoura High School's Parent Faculty Club purchased a variety of hightech tools for teachers, including a digital projector and tablet personal computer. "Now I write on the PC and it shows up on the screen," he said. The tabletstyle of writing allows him to link to websites, programs and other interactive material, bringing math concepts to life for many students. "It's revolutionized the way I teach," Bacharach said. Stephen's mother, Suzanne, said her first thought when her son was notified about his win was that not many essays were submitted in the Texas Instruments contest. "It was only 300 words," she said. "We expected him to help pay for college," Suzanne Corwin said. He either had to get a job or apply for scholarships, she said. The Texas Instrument essay contest was Stephen's first attempt at free college money. "Prior to this enlightenment, my calculator was just a requirement for the class, but now it is a tool that I can use all the time to reach beyond the confines of a textbook," Stephen said in his essay. "Mr. Bacharach is the only teacher I have ever had who's opened doors to my future, where others have simply taught what a book could have taught." When Bacharach found out about his student's winning essay, he didn't realize that he, too, would be the recipient of a large cash prize. "I found out it was more than a couple of calculators," he said. Bacharach said he chose the money over a trip because it would come in handy raising his young family. Bacharach, 35, is married and has two children, ages 5 and 3. "Teachers don't usually get bonuses," Bacharach said. "Teachers get recognized, teachers get gift certificates from Chambers. A cash lump sum of any kind is much more than I generally hear of." He said he will use a portion of the money to buy a new mountain bike. |
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