National Teacher of the Year Conference (Jan 21–24, 2004)
On January 21, 2004, this year’s U.S. State Teachers of the Year and program coordinators arrived in Dallas, Texas, for the 2004 National Teacher of the Year (NTOY) conference. The preconference kickoff was a friendly introductory dinner where the teachers and organizers had a chance to meet one another for the first time. It was also a time dedicated to introducing the SMARTer Kids Foundation.

Executive director Nancy Knowlton greeted the teachers and expressed thanks to the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) for the opportunity to sponsor the NTOY conference. She also thanked the teachers for their unwavering dedication to improved learning and confessed that her own support of teachers grew out of personal experiences as a challenged student. Teachers listened to the story of how the SMARTer Kids Foundation began with a dream and how it has grown into a network of programs geared to supporting teachers and students all over North America.

After her initial comments, Nancy introduced the foundation’s honored guests:
	Barbara Dorff, 2002 Texas Teacher of the Year (Dallas, TX)
	Chris Lloyd, Jeff Woyda, and Gregory Gray from Immersive Education (London, UK)
	Darrell Ward, Michael Paul, and Josh Vick from eInstruction Corp. (Denton, TX)
	Karen Beagle from the SMARTer Kids Foundation (Calgary, Canada)
	Jeff Schultz and Dwayne LeViere from SMART Technologies Inc. (Calgary, Canada)
	Janie Hale from AlphaSmart (TX, arrived the following day)
	Patti Postel from NEC Solutions America (TX, arrived the following day)

Together, the foundation and its cosponsors heartily congratulated the teachers and presented each of them with award certificates and souvenirs.

Conference Archives

Click on any of the following events to see how the conference unfolded:
	Technology Training Day (January 22, 2004)
	Conference Sessions (January 23–24, 2004)
	Farewell Dinner (January 24, 2004)

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