Mr. Allen Ruliffson of J. Frank Hillyard Middle School has been named the National Middle School Economics Teacher of the Year by the Council for Economic Education. It is important to note that this is the highest award in the nation for middle school economics instruction. Mr. Rullifson is a product of Rockingham County Public Schools, graduating from Spotswood High School in 1998. He went on to get his undergraduate degree from The College of William and Mary, and his teaching degree from Eastern Mennonite University. For the past decade he has served the students of Hillyard Middle School in Broadway, Virginia. Mr. Ruliffson is such an accomplished economics educator, he has earned as many awards in this area of instruction as he has accumulated years in teaching. He has twice been named the:
-grand prize winner of the local competition organized
by the JMU Center of Economic Education
-once as that competition's reserve grand prize winner of that competition
-five times as its first place winner, and
-twice as the first place winner at the state level
-he now has achieved the pinnacle in this particular discipline by being named the National Economics Teacher of the Year
Mr. Ruliffson is one of the nine teachers currently piloting computers in his classroom as part of the County’s Digital Conversion initiative. The lesson that he submitted for the national award was actually a technology-enhanced project that he collaborated on with his mentor, Mrs. Kim Fawley. In order to teach their students about marketing and entrepreneurship, Mr. Ruliffson developed a project where students utilized classroom technology in order to create a multimedia commercial for a historic invention. Using the “Shark Tank” reality show as their inspiration, Mr. Ruliffson and Mrs. Fawley invited community members to serve as judges for the student commercials. Classes gathered in the school’s auditorium as students presented their products to community leaders such as Sheriff Bryan Hutchinson, Economics professor Dr. William Wood, and Randy Andes of “Randy's Do It Best Hardware” stores. The panel carefully evaluated the quality of the presentations and selected an overall winner. This project not only provided students with a valuable real-world learning experience, but it demonstrated how technology can be used to enhance instruction and make it more student-centered. It is not surprising that Mr. Ruliffson has been recognized on a national level for this type innovative work in the classroom. Congratulations, Al!
-grand prize winner of the local competition organized
by the JMU Center of Economic Education
-once as that competition's reserve grand prize winner of that competition
-five times as its first place winner, and
-twice as the first place winner at the state level
-he now has achieved the pinnacle in this particular discipline by being named the National Economics Teacher of the Year
Mr. Ruliffson is one of the nine teachers currently piloting computers in his classroom as part of the County’s Digital Conversion initiative. The lesson that he submitted for the national award was actually a technology-enhanced project that he collaborated on with his mentor, Mrs. Kim Fawley. In order to teach their students about marketing and entrepreneurship, Mr. Ruliffson developed a project where students utilized classroom technology in order to create a multimedia commercial for a historic invention. Using the “Shark Tank” reality show as their inspiration, Mr. Ruliffson and Mrs. Fawley invited community members to serve as judges for the student commercials. Classes gathered in the school’s auditorium as students presented their products to community leaders such as Sheriff Bryan Hutchinson, Economics professor Dr. William Wood, and Randy Andes of “Randy's Do It Best Hardware” stores. The panel carefully evaluated the quality of the presentations and selected an overall winner. This project not only provided students with a valuable real-world learning experience, but it demonstrated how technology can be used to enhance instruction and make it more student-centered. It is not surprising that Mr. Ruliffson has been recognized on a national level for this type innovative work in the classroom. Congratulations, Al!
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