Laura Wright, Austin Texas has been selected as the 2016 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™.
Laura is a third grade teacher at Eanes Elementary School. Laura incorporates Iditarod themed lessons into all areas of her curriculum including math, art, and science, with a strong technology piece that allows students to share their learning.
Laura was among a group of 6 who attended the 2014Winter Conference.
Reflecting back on her 20 years as a public school teacher, Laura remembers leaving the University of Texas, eager to change the world and inspire students to care passionately about the world they lived in. Realizing her goals were high, it has been her passion. She began her career working with special education students in a school where she did not have access to textbooks or even a chalkboard. Teaching in such a difficult situation, and with limited resources, she shared her own passions with her students; a love of nature by visiting nearby caves or performing plays and reading adapted classic literature such as “The Three Musketeers.” She soon realized that every student in every classroom had the same desire; to be inspired about what they are being asked to learn. During her last year at Campbell Elementary School, she was awarded a $20,000 grant to develop a space called “Kid City” working with the University of Texas School of Design. Real world buildings resembling a city were built to encourage real world math skills in a simulated city environment.
At her current school, Eanes Elementary, Laura embraced Project Based Learning and was asked to pilot 1:1 technology for all the EISD elementary schools. She has presented locally and nationally at teacher conferences, sharing the tools and ideas she has learned to be successful in the classroom, and I has published an iBook in the iTunes bookstore that has been downloaded thousands of times around the globe. What inspires her now is finding ways to give her students opportunities to share their work and passion with others nationally and globally.
Laura believes in the power of volunteering. For the past 25 years, Laura has been a passionate volunteer in the Austin community. She truly believes that her students see her as a role model and being a community volunteer has been a highlight of her life in many ways. It is important to Laura that all of her students understand that even a child can make a difference, no matter how small in their city, town or state. Laura’s students can expect to donate cat and dog food for the local animal shelter at our annual holiday party, or raise money for bat conservation in science. It is an expected and important part of her teaching. 
