Plano ISD teachers Bryan Yee, Laura Spear and Raymond Morton received the Texas Instruments Innovations in STEM Teaching Award this year.

The award honors science, technology, engineering and math teachers in Richardson, Plano, Dallas, Garland, Mesquite and Lancaster.

Award recipients are given a $10,000 prize, $5,000 of which must be used for professional development or classroom innovation.

Bryan Yee of Plano Senior High School was named the 2016 Secondary Teacher of the Year.[/caption]

Laura Spear is head of the science department at Vines High School in Plano.[/caption]

Raymond Morton has been teaching math at Hendrick Middle School for six years.[/caption]

“The TI Foundation is very focused on working with school districts to help improve STEM teacher effectiveness,” said Gail Chandler, director of citizenship communications for TI. “There’s a tremendous shortage of those good math and science teachers and that’s why we work hard to make sure the really good ones get recognized and rewarded.”

TI has given $250,000 to PISD teachers through the award since 2007, Chandler said. Award recipients are nominated by his or her principal, and each teacher has a different plan for the prize money.

Yee, PISD’s 2016 Secondary Teacher of the Year, has taught at Plano Senior High School since 2007 and said he intends to use his award to create videos for his classes.

“A lot of times students are out [of the classroom], so ... if someone is out, they can actually watch this video and get a different perspective other than just reading the book,” he said. “Reading the book is great, but sometimes hearing someone talk about it and hearing specific examples we used in class helps a lot.”

Spear, who is head of the science department at Vines High School, teaches biology and has been teaching at Vines High School for 11 years. Spear said she plans to use the prize
to purchase hands-on lab materials for her classroom to include dissection and molecule kits.

“Things like dissection [were] off the table for a couple years because we just didn’t have it in our budget,” she said. “$5,000 would cover so much.”

As the math department chair at Hendrick Middle School, Morton teaches seventh grade and honors math. Morton said he plans to purchase tablets or Chromebooks that students will be able to check out of his classroom.

“I think [the award] is great because  I can let kids have access to this technology who wouldn’t otherwise have it,” Morton said. “It’s tied to that money to make my class better so ... they can be on a level playing field as somebody else.”