Nomination for Classroom Connect Educator Award

Nominee’s Name: - Steve Feld
Address: - 99 Terrace View Avenue Bronx, New York 10463
School Name: -John F. Kennedy High School
District: – Bronx Superintendency
Nominee’s position: – Computer Graphics Instructor, Webmaster, Data Programmer.
Email address : sjfeld@erols.com | Phone (718) 562 5500 | FAX (718) 562 5132

Supervisor: – Deborah Effinger
Supervisor’s position: – Asst Principal - Visual and Performing Arts Department

Steve Feld is a master teacher who has demonstrated within an inner city large non-specialized public Bronx High School, pioneer use of the Internet to nurture, enrich, motivate and captivate student learning and growth. Over a career which has spanned 30 + years of fine arts, mathematics, science, and other subject disciplines, Steve Feld has mastered, incorporated and integrated the broad spectrum of accessible technologies in service of engaging students in rigorous inquiry based, product driven, project based learning portfolios.

Although multi-ethnic, socially and educationally at risk students at John F. Kennedy High School, located in the Kingsbridge/Marble Hill section in the Bronx, come from non-native English language speaking backgrounds, daunting acculturation challenges, and the lower end of the digital divide with limited access to household computer technology; they are leveraged into state of the art Internet investigatory and involvement rich learning adventures once they enter Mr. Feld’s classroom. During the year 2000-2001 all of the students enrolled in Mr. Feld’s computer graphics classes (none of these students are accelerated learners or are selected on the basis of academic reading, writing distinction) are privy to participate and contribute as part of the literate Internet community in the following ongoing strand of Mr. Feld’s curriculum:
  • Examination of and study of art history utilizing the award winning Microsoft Challenge 2000 (Bronx 1st place) ArtiFAQ 21OO web component which includes a review of outstanding figures in art’s past whose contributions anticipated pre-figured or were integral to trends in 2100. As part of these investigations Mr. Feld’s fine arts students also authentically developed expanded and enhanced key critical thinking, persuasive essay, comparative image analysis and persuasive speaking, listening, discussing and viewing capacities. These multidisciplinary internet based skills exercises, maximize students’ performances on the multidisciplinary Regents examinations which are now required of High School students in New York City. ArtiFAQ 21OO was selected as a Classroom Connect Library Hot Five July 31, 2000.

    ArtiFAQ 21OO has been selected by Classroom Connect’s team of Cybrarians as a featured site in the Library Hot Five. This free resource appears once a week as both a subscriber listserv and as part of Connected Teacher’s A+ Web Links at http://www.connectedteacher.com/library/hotFive.asp

  • Participated in any number of collaborative contests competitions and portfolio opportunities with the network of student centered media, political, international, and civic proactive strategic partners, Mr. Feld and his students have developed over the past four years of their internet literate community involvement. Among these strategic collaborative partners whose prompts, projects and opportunities are regularly made available to the students are:

    1. Ovation TV
    Past partnership efforts with this key media supporter over last school year include:

    Miho Museum Design and Japanese peer cultural conversations, /13681/data/museum/trees.htm

    Arthur C. Clarke/Leonardo Futurist Connection, /13681/data/links/clarke.htm

    the products/observation journals Codex Comes to Kennedy /13681/data/museum/codex.htm

    2. A comparison of Leonardo's journal with South Pole Explorers of the Bancroft Expedition /13681/data/links/anartica.htm?tqskip=1

    3. Fluid Arts/Miksike http://studentfactory.org/
    Mr. Feld is founding Board member of the Fluid Arts International Project, which engages students in utilizing digital arts and accessible technology to report and capture international arts movements. Student Danny Mena created the award winning logo for this international group and also served as a reporter/documenter for an Estonia based environmental website project coordinator by another founding board member Mikhel Pilv http://miksike.com/articles/kennedy_highschool_article.htm

    3. CityArts
    As part of their futurist and space studies students also went out into the community to photograph one of John F. Kennedy’s local arts partners, CityArts and a Bronx neighboring elementary school who developed a space mural

  • CityArts - NASA Living on Mars Mural Project /13681/bronx/mural.htm?tqskip=1

    4. ET3 Educational Technology Think Tank A non-profit organization devoted to the expansion, enhancement and accessing of technology to support the achievement of students and citizens on the lower end of the digital divide. This past June 2001, Mr. Feld, as a result of a review by Dr. Ronnie Lowenstein of the “Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling” website was invited to design the ET3 website. As part of its design Mr. Feld was excited by the prospect of involving his John F. Kennedy computer graphic arts students in becoming the Bronx hub of the Net Generation of Youth 2001 School Year and Beyond

    • How the nominee plans to use the Internet in the classroom during the 2001-2002:

    As students in New York City public high schools began their school year at a budget deficit, Mr. Feld’s students began their school year with inestimable Internet intense enrichment vistas. They have been enriched by a donation of five computers from The TechFoundation, which will support them in demonstrating newly honed cyber journalist skills including digital photo journalism, computer graphic editorial comments, multimedia community news based e-news coverage, and PowerPoint editorial presentations. Students at John F. Kennedy High School, adjacent to the Marble Hill projects in the Kingsbridge area of the Bronx, will have the opportunity to use the Internet to be part of a broad powerful student centered productive and proactive community of global citizen teacher and learners.

    It is said that teachers affect eternity. Through use of the internet, teachers, such as Steve Feld are able to orchestrate, empower, enable and leverage not only their own inner city multiethnic students, but also positively charge the next generation of internet literate and active community members. It takes an educator to raise up a committed informed and critical Internet citizenry!
    Mona Bridges Digital Divide /13681/data/links/summary.htm

    Press Coverage

    NEW YORK Times ` /13681/data/links/times99.htm
    NEW YORK Daily News /13681/data/drama/raphael.htm
    Technology
    & Learning Magazine     		/13681/data/drama/techno.htm

    Presented at the following Conferences

    AT&T Make IT Work /13681/data/workshop.htm
    SchoolTech Expo
    New York City     		/13681/data/hilton.htm
    Siggraph'99
    Los Angeles    		 /13681/data/links/siggs.htm

    Nomination Letters of Endorsement

    It is my pleasure to nominate Steve Feld for this classroom, Internet teacher honor. Mr. Feld is an outstanding computer graphics and fine arts educator, whose state of the art collaborative, captivating, Internet style learning experiences, not only benefit the students officially registered in his classes, but also positively infuse the teaching and learning of the JFK school community.

    Among the many beneficiaries of Steve’s student’s Internet expertise in our school were and are: