By Dan Aceto

Staff Writer

What was originally billed as a school-wide assembly on respect Friday was actually middle school Principal Barbara Hathorn’s elaborate hoax to gather students for a surprise announcement.

For Andrew Davidson, that announcement could not have been more of a surprise.

Davidson, a technology education teacher at Scarborough Middle School, was honored as recipient of the 2011 Technology Education Association of Maine’s (TEAM) and International Technology and Engineering Educator’s Association (ITEEA) annual middle school Teacher Excellence Award.

The award is one of the highest honors given to technology and engineering education classroom teachers and recognizes outstanding contributions to the profession and students, according to the ITEEA website. The award is given to one teacher at the middle school level in each state, Hathorn said.

Davidson, 27, is in his fifth year of teaching at the middle school and, as a technology education teacher, said he has the unique experience of teaching every student in the school.

“It’s just great knowing that as young as I am, I’m making that much of an impact. Receiving this award is really a special thing,” Davidson said.

But Davidson was quick to divert attention from his own recognition.

“What happened today was even more important. It was the first time I’ve ever seen the entire school together,” Davidson said.

The assembly, which elicited chants of Davidson’s name from the nearly 800-person crowd, was the first of its kind, said Hathorn, and included performances by both the jazz band and chorus. Davidson said he was moved by the students’ enthusiasm.

“I think it is great to be recognized and as a teacher, recognition is all you get,” Davidson said.

Aside from the assembly, Davidson also will be honored at TEAM’s spring conference in Maine, the ITEEA conference in Minneapolis, and the fall conference of New England’s Association of Technology teachers. 

Davidson, who teaches both sixth- and eighth-grade classes, said he was inspired to pursue a career in technology education by a teacher whose own excellence in the field motivated him in middle school. 

“He made it really fun and exciting and that’s what drew me into it,” he said.

“Fun” and “exciting” are also some of the first words Davidson’s students use to describe their teacher’s approach to technology education.

Eighth-grader Nathan Howard said he remembered building model rockets in one of Davidson’s classes.

“He makes learning fun,” Howard said.

Eighth-grader Delaney Pitts recalled the time she and other students built and raced CO2 cars.

“He has lots of creative ideas,” Pitts said.

Hathorn agreed and said Davidson works with a very high level of technology in many of his classroom projects, yet always finds a way to present ideas in a fun and interesting way.

“His teaching is relevant and current with what kids want to know and need to know,” Hathorn said.

One program Davidson uses to design and render 3-D images, “Sketch-Up,” is the same software used by many leading architects, Hathorn said.

Davidson said he uses the software to help build functional hydraulic arms, such as those found on the space station to deploy satellites, and that students have proved their adeptness with the technology.

“The kids pick it up really fast,” Davidson said.

Davidson said he also teaches summer sessions on architecture, engineering, rocketry and has an after-school Lego-robotics club for students interested in taking their skills to the next level.

The club involves many building challenges and students have made virtual amusement parks, computerized catapults and robots that can climb rope, navigate mazes and perform sumo wrestling, he said.

“Everything is programmed using computers,” Davidson said. “We use the big computer to input data to the little computer (on the robots), or as we call it, ‘the brain.’”

Although Davidson is primarily involved in technology education at the middle school, he also is head of the school’s scheduling committee and has helped devise a more efficient plan for students’ workdays, including increasing the length of math classes from 45 to 80 minutes.

“Sometimes math and science get overlooked,” Davidson said. “We need people to help produce and manufacture new technology and bring things back to the industry.”

Davidson said he has bright plans for the future.

 “I’m going to keep on doing what I’ve been doing, but as a teacher it’s important to keep changing and I’m going to do things bigger and better each year.”