ISU ALUMNA EARNS HONORS AS INDIANA'S TOP BUSINESS EDUCATOR
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Henry Adams once said, "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."
This saying is most definitely true as it pertains to the life of Debbie Davidson, an ISU alumna (BS '83) and business teacher at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Davidson was recently recognized as the Indiana Business Educators Association's 2004 Outstanding Classroom Teacher.
"I was totally shocked (about the award)," Davidson said. "When Jennifer Petersen (ISU Œ98) started reading the bio and I heard the details, I started to realize it was me. To receive this award out of all the business teachers in Indiana was quite an honor."
Petersen, who served as a student teacher for Davidson when she started the Web design class in 1998, is one of her biggest fans and one who agrees that the honor is way overdue.
"It's about time! It's about time that she was recognized by her discipline as being the best. I could not have asked to student teach with a better teacher than Debbie," Petersen added. "Everything I know, I learned from her. Because she was my mentor and taught me how to be an awesome teacher, I was awarded the North Central Business Education Association's Emerging Professional Award in 2003. I would love to be as accomplished of a teacher as Debbie, so I am going to continue to practice what she has taught me. It was an honor for me to be the one to present her with the award."
In the classroom, Davidson strives to infuse new technology into the curriculum and to motivate and inspire students as they put real-world skills into practice. She has achieved these goals on many levels. While a teacher at Franklin Central, she initiated and developed the first computer applications class and, in 1998, she took the bull by the horns and developed a new Web design course in the business department at Ben Davis. Davidson ventured into both of these endeavors without any prior knowledge of the subject matter.
"Being that it was a new course in its infancy, we really had to find someone innovative, who'd take on a class that hadn't really been developed much," said former Ben Davis colleague Anita Thompson, who had approached Davidson in 1998 about spearheading the Web design initiative. "Debbie was always willing to take a risk. She really loves what she's doing, and she's gone to the nth degree to make it an outstanding Web site. She's an extremely dedicated person."
Davidson not only taught herself how to utilize the different Web development software packages but she created the curriculum for the courses on her own. But, she says, it's the students who have made the program the success it is today. Those whose lives she's greatly influenced beg to differ.
Megan Naugle graduated from Ben Davis in 2001 and is studying new media at Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis (IUPUI). She said her life may have been very different had she not studied Web design with Davidson.
"I chose to obtain a degree in new media because of what I was taught in Mrs. Davidson's Web design class," Naugle said. "I knew nothing about the Internet and how it worked before that. I was very excited about the knowledge she taught me, so I wanted to continue to run with it."
Once at IUPUI, Naugle obtained an internship at a web design firm in downtown Indianapolis and jumped feet first into putting her Web knowledge to practice.
"In May, I will have a degree in new media, and I will have worked as an office manager at a web design firm for 5 years. I love my job and this field. Without Mrs. Davidson I would have never gone down this path."
Using professional programs such as Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop as well as good, old-fashioned HTML, juniors and seniors in her classes are responsible for daily maintenance of the Metropolitan School District (MSD) of Wayne Township Web site. In addition to Ben Davis, the site covers 11 elementary schools, three middle schools, three junior high schools and three alternative schools. For the past five years, Davidson has been able to hire students to work with her during the summer months to keep the sites up to date.
"Most (students) come to me with very little experience in Web design," Davidson explained. "We run the class like a business. We work in small teams, have daily deadlines, communicate with others for information, have email accounts. It's a real-world project. Students can't hide out because they didn't get their homework done. If their pages aren't current, then it's a reflection on the students. I always tell them that Web is 24/7/365, so they know that they have to keep their pages current."
It's so real-world, in fact, that Davidson asks students to "apply" for her class, and she's been known to "fire" those who don't perform at a professional level.
"When I've fired them, I've usually given them multiple opportunities," explained Davidson, who organizes the students into teams of three or four, with one always serving as supervisor over the others on a rotating basis.
"It teaches them good communication skills and how to deal with difficult personalities," she said. "They all have to do their part."
Davidson asks her students to maintain particular Web sites based on their areas of interest or expertise. For instance, if a student is a basketball player, then he or she will update the schedules and results for the school basketball teams. Students who maintain individual club or school sites are typically members of those clubs or they've attended that school.
"They have so much more pride in it when it's something they're connected to or have interest in," she said.
To give you an idea of the size and scope of the sites that Davidson and her students maintain, consider that each school, club or sport is a subweb of the overall Web site. At last count, Davidson said the students were maintaining more than 140 subwebs.
Quite a daunting task even for professionals in the field.
But, then again, Davidson's is not your typical computer class, according to two-year student Alicia Brownlee, and for that she is thankful.
"Every day we work hands on, and our work is shown to the public," Brownlee said. "It is actually an awesome opportunity to have an experience almost like an internship while in high school. Most high schools only teach you fundamentals from books. Mrs. D. has taught us several things that we will use every day in any career we choose."
Brownlee, who already has designed two sites for a local family owned business, said she hopes to major in computers, Web design/graphics or new media when she attends college in the fall.
"As of right now, Web design is just a hobby, but who knows what the future holds for me," she added. "Mrs. Davidson's class has introduced me to a whole new Internet world."
It's no surprise that Davidson inspires her students. In fact, she had a business teacher who inspired her in much the same way.
Susan (Blank) Stout (ISU '65 BS, '69 MS) taught and mentored Davidson at Decatur Central High School, and she was right there supporting Davidson the night of the award presentation.
"She was a dream of a student," Stout said. "She's a roll model for students and for her colleagues, too. I'm retired now, but when she was a teacher at Ben Davis, she became my role model."
This is not the first well-deserved honor that has recently come Davidson's way. She also received an AES IPALCO Golden Apple Award, was the Ben Davis High School Teacher of the Year, and was honored as the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township Teacher of the Year. She topped that off with the honor of being named one of 10 finalists for Indiana Teacher of the Year 2003.
All of her hard work has obviously paid off. The school's Web design course and the Wayne Township Web site have become model programs for business educators around the state. In fact, the site has been recognized as a MidLink Magazine Cool School and a USA Today Education Best Web Site.
A 1979 graduate of Decatur Central High School, she has been teaching for 21 years. Six of those years were spent at Franklin Central High School, and she's been at Ben Davis for the past 15. She earned her bachelor's degree in business education from Indiana State University in 1983 and her master's from Indiana University in 1987.
What words of wisdom does she have to share with other business education teachers out there?
"We're in an area where we should be the leaders in technology. It's important that we jump on the bandwagon and lead our students so they are prepared and have skills to take with them in the work world. We can't be afraid to teach new things. I'm not afraid to admit to my students that I don't know everything there is to know about this."
Her advice to all teachers?
"You truly never know what impact you're having on a student. It may be four or five years down the road. They may e-mail you or drop in and say ŒYou led me in the right direction or really mentored me.' That makes all the difference."
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Contact: Debbie Davidson, ISU alumna and business teacher at Ben Davis High School, debbie.davidson@wayne.k12.in.us
Writer: Maria Greninger, associate director, Communications & Marketing, Indiana State University, (812) 237-4357 or m-greninger@indstate.edu
ISU Communications and Marketing: (812) 237-3773 or http://www.indstate.edu/news
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