great news for three teachers and one principal from Indiana

• STACEY ATWOOD, second grade teacher at Washington Township Elementary School near Valparaiso in the East Porter County School Corporation. She is described by colleagues as "our pioneer of the Internet," and a leader in innovative instructional techjnology. She uses a new phonics program called "Making Words," and her second graders read and share with each other from 200 books during a year.
• RICK CROSSLIN, of Danville, a fourth grade teacher at Chapel Glen Elementary School in the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, Indianapolis. He organizes trips to the Amazon Basin Rainforest, and his "Cyber-Olympics" project with miniature snowboards, coordinated with IBM, is used by teachers world wide via the Internet. His instructional technique is described as "igniting learners."
• CATHLIN GRAY, principal and former kindergarten teacher at Cedar Hall Elementary School in the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation. Collegues call her a "a visionary, a superb communicator, and a dedicated leader." She implemented the district's first Full Service School, providing educational opportunity to families while teaming with 30 community agencies to offer medical, social, and recreational services from ballet to basketball.
• TAMMY PAYTON, first grade teacher at Loogootee West Elementary School in the Loogootee Community School Corporation. She is known for devoting personal time to enrichment experiences for all students and for putting the community on "the educational cyber-map" as the author of its World Wide Web pages. In her classroom, she merges technology with hands-on learning. She has taught 13 years at Loogootee West; four years at Crothersville.