Microsoft announced that Kirkland teacher Julie Hembree is one of four Washington educators who won the Partners in Learning U.S. Forum for their trailblazing projects utilizing technology in and out of the classroom. Hembree, who teaches at AG Bell Elementary, led 4th graders as they wrote storyboards and then created short movies to serve as trailers to showcase their favorite books, which the school library then used as digital advertising to entice their student peers to read.

Winners, selected from 100 educator entries, will now go on to represent the U.S. at the Partners in Learning Global Forum in Prague this November and compete to be named a Microsoft Innovative Educator.