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Geoffry Habel, a teacher at Great Falls High School, has been selected by the Karen Cox Memorial Grant program to receive a $350 grant.

The Montana Professional Teaching Foundation created the Karen Cox Memorial Grant Awards in 2004 to honor the late Karen Cox, a long-time Billings teacher and statewide activist for quality public schools.

The grant program is designed to assist educators who often find themselves reaching into their own pockets to pay for classroom supplies. “At a time when school budgets are extremely tight, these small grants can make a big difference,” said Foundation Chair Eric Feaver of Helena.

Recipients of the 2009 Karen Cox awards are listed below:

Geoffry Habel, 9th-12th grade teacher, Great Falls High School. Great Falls High uses an engaging, fun, project-based learning program that includes about 600 English, math, science, history, art, business, Montana history, and drama students. “The goal is simply to engage all students in a lesson that encompasses a variety of subject areas and allows them to immerse themselves in a topic that produces real-life learning and gets real life results,” Habel says. Results show the program is achieving this goal. Habel’s $350 grant will help purchase art supplies.

Other Montana teachers selected for a grant from the program are:

Ross Darner, 5th-8th grade teacher, Evergreen School, Kalispell. Darner’s $500 grant will help pay for staffing, healthy snacks, and field trips for the school’s Evergreen Fitness Team, an after-school and summer program.

Patty Muir, Laurel Middle School, Laurel. Muir will use her $500 grant to equip each grade level (5-8) with a Flip camcorder in order to record projects, plays, presentations, and more to share with parents and community.

Emily Palmer, Elysian School, Billings. At this small K-8 school, half of the students qualify as low-income and 22 percent are ethnic minority. Her $500 grant will allow Palmer to buy the software Inspiration, a research-based application that helps students plan and organize thoughts for verbal and written projects, research and evaluate ideas in all subject areas, comprehend and communicate ideas verbally and in writing, and increase technology skills.

Rebecca King, 1st grade teacher, Broadwater Elementary, Billings. To help with her goal of making math lessons more interactive and hands-on, King will use her $300 grant to buy materials including MathStart books and teaching guides; math activity reference books; and manipulatives such as plastic coins, pattern blocks, and connecting rods.

To learn more about the Montana Professional Teaching Foundation, visit the organization's website at: www.mea-mft.org/mptf.html.