Darlene Hoke, Math Teacher at South Lake High, was recently selected as the grades 6th-12th statewide winner for Florida Engineering Foundation Outstanding Mathematics Teacher Award at the Florida Council of Teachers of Mathematics state conference in Orlando.
The Florida Engineering Foundation, in cooperation with the Florida Council of Teachers of Mathematics, awarded Hoke with $1,000 and a plaque.
“Gosh, how do you respond to the excitement of winning an award,” said Hoke when asked how she felt about receiving the award. “My first thought was, are you sure I won this award? I honestly didn’t believe it.”
The Florida Engineering Foundation was looking for a math teacher in grades 6th-12th who most creatively used or promoted engineering and technology in his or her mathematics lessons in the classroom. Hoke’s submission included creative lesson plans that she used in her Geometry Honors, Algebra I and Algebra IA/B classes.
An example of her award-winning lessons was she gave groups of students a fixed income of $500. She asked them to construct bridges with straws and tape; straws costing $15 apiece and tape at $2 per inch. Students then tested the bridges for durability. Another activity that she submitted for this award was product design. Students chose a product package that could be redesigned to reduce waste, space and still be appealing. This activity had many different options for students to select from so that they could utilize their differing learning modalities. Hoke is planning more innovative lessons to introduce students to engineering and technology.
“I am working on purchasing supplies for rocket building so that students can investigate parabolas in Algebra II,” she said.
