Matthew Hains has entered the “Global Teacher Prize” – which annually presents a one million dollar award from the Varkey Foundation to recognise an exceptional teacher. We are happy to support Matt’s nomination for this award as he is always willing to share his expertise on using digital tools effectively in the classroom with other teachers.

You may have seen Matt in action at the 2017 SchoolNet SA ICT in the Classroom conference where he presented a session on “The Digital Frontier – A Paperless Classroom?”. Matt also conducted a session on using Microbits at the Brescia House CuriosITy workshops to encourage Grade 11 CAT and IT girls to bring code to life. 

In 2017, Matthew was selected to represent South Africa at the Microsoft E2 Education Exchange in Toronto, Canada. At this conference, Matthew explained that whilst he needs to ensure that his students know how to use Office applications, he aims to  provide opportunities for students to challenge themselves and to develop logical thinking skills at the same time. You can read the case study about Matt and his work here. 

Matthew has co-presented a number of Microsoft Virtual Academies for SchoolNet SA covering topics such as Using Kodu in the Classroom and Physical Computing. In these webinars, he talks teachers through various online courses and resources and gives tips for using them in South African classrooms.

If you are a CAT teacher, you are probably familiar with the Tech Teachers blog which Matt runs. This blog, along with the CAT and IT Teachers – South Africa Facebook group is a lifeline to teachers looking for resources or advice from other teachers. 

If you would like to support Matt’s nomination for the Global Teacher Prize you can do so .

If you would like to nominate yourself, or another exceptional teacher in your network, for the Global Teacher Prize, read more about the nomination process and eligibility criteria here.