Global Teacher Prize 2016 - Top Ten Finalists | Page 11

Michael Soskil
Wallenpaupack South Elementary School, Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, US

Michael believes students need meaningful emotional connections to learn. He
engages them in distance learning service projects and uses multimedia technology
to link them to others who are passionate about real-world problems. He has helped
students connect live with over 70 countries as well as the International Space
Station.

In one project, children from the US and Greece connected with children in Nairobi’s
Kibera slum and partnered with Vestergaard to raise over $12,000 for water filters to
protect 2 schools and 3,000 slum residents against disease. Michael’s students
created videos to teach mathematics to the Kenyan children who, in return, taught
them Swahili. The collaboration, featured at last year’s International Society for
Technology in Education Conference, grew to include student-created videos from
dozens of countries.

Michael’s school has exceeded state averages in tests, despite great poverty in the
area, every year he has been Head. His students achieved a 100% pass rate in state
maths exams (93% advanced).

Michael’s work has been the subject of many articles in international publications.
He is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert (he co-authored the Mystery Skype
notebook) and NGO advisor. A speaker at the UN Social Innovation and
Mashable/UN Foundation Social Good summits, he received the Presidential Award
for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching and made the 2015 Global Teacher
Prize Top 50. He is very active in teacher training and recruitment both in the US and
abroad.

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