LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Orinda Educator Named C-SPAN Senior Fellow


Cheryl Davis consults for Acalanes Union High School District as a Curriculum and Instruction Technology Specialist. Photo Cathy Dausman

Acalanes Union High School District (AUHSD) employee Cheryl Davis was recently named as a C-SPAN Senior Teacher Fellow, an appointment Davis finds "thrilling." Davis is one of just two teachers nationwide to earn the fellowship in 2012.

Senior Fellows work eight to 10 hours a month online for the network and are chosen from among those who have earned a C-SPAN fellowship. Davis was named a C-SPAN Fellow in 2004. That appointment came with a month-long stay in Washington, D.C. where she helped create lesson plans and content at C-SPAN headquarters.

Davis says that trip was "the professional development experience of a lifetime," and what a long teaching lifetime it has been.

She began her career 40 years ago, having been with AUHSD for all but the first five. She started in district at Campolindo High School and moved to Miramonte High School, where among other subjects, she taught U.S. and World History and Journalism.

Davis became involved with Miramonte's school newspaper, learning to layout its pages on Mac computers. She taught photography in conjunction with the newspaper work, and when photography became digitized, Davis learned that too. Eventually she stopped teaching to become a technology specialist at MHS.

Currently Davis consults part time for the district as a Curriculum and Instruction Technology Specialist. "I'm nobody's boss," Davis says modestly, "I am a teacher." She is also a student of technology, which she says is "moving so fast."

From her post, Davis coordinates the professional development of district teachers throughout the year, working through the schools' on-site technology coordinators. The AUHSD is "really forward thinking," Davis says, and strives to give its students a 21st century education. While parents support the district and teachers are enthusiastic about technology advancements, Davis remains cautious "not to jump on everything [technology related]." She would like to see teaching more integrated with what she calls "one to one" technology, where the focus is on delivering a lesson with content-rich information and a global view. She cautions students and their parents to seek out reliable, unbiased sources of information, such as sites run by museums and universities.

The former history teacher finds her work as a C-SPAN Senior Fellow especially exciting in an election year filled with campaigns and conventions. The network "does a nice job of supporting its fellows," Davis says.

In addition to being a Senior Teacher Fellow, Davis is a Google Certified Teacher, an Apple Distinguished Educator (one of 1,500 internationally) and has presented at state-wide and national conferences for the International Society for Technology in Education. Recently she was selected to be a Teaching with Primary Sources Mentor Adviser for the Library of Congress. The other Senior Teacher Fellow is Tracey Van Dusen of Ann Arbor, Michigan.