|
jaime escalantegranite bay, ca | YEARS TAUGHT: 1954 - 1998Jaime was born in La Paz, Bolivia, to two teachers who worked in a small Aymara Indian village. After 9 years of teaching in Bolivia, Escalante moved to the United States and worked as a busboy, a cook, and an electronics factory technician while earning teaching credentials and a degree in mathematics. He is the host of an instructional television series on PBS, “Futures,”which introduces students to a variety of math and science-based careers. It is the most popular classroom program in the history of PBS and has been honored with more than 50 awards from educational and professional organizations, including the highest honor in the broadcasting field, the George Foster Peabody Award. A 1988 book, Escalante: The Best Teacher in America, provided an account of his life. The 1988 film Stand and Deliver illustrated his 1982 struggle. His students tested so high in the rigorous Advanced Placement exams that they were suspected of cheating by the Educational Testing Service, which didn’t believe that poor barrio students had the ability to pass any college- level test. He believes in helping students find in themselves a desire that must emerge from within, which allows them to overcome all barriers.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
|
|
dorothy kittakafort wayne, in | YEARS TAUGHT: 1961 - PresentDorothy’s education began in a nursery school in an American Concentration Camp in Heart Mountain, Wyoming, where she lived with 120,000 other Japanese Americans, who also were sent to various other such camps in the U.S. Her earliest memory of music was a melancholy trumpet melody repeatedly played in the camp by a strange man she called, “Poo-Pah-Poo Man.” She was a founding member of FAME, Foundation for Art and Music in Elementary Education, which has become one of the most influential arts organizations in the state. Each year, FAME selects a different cultural focus in an effort to promote better understanding of our country’s richly diverse cultural heritage. FAME facilitates teacher workshops, a visiting artists program, cultural kit lesson plans, a week-long summer residence camp, and a composition project, a collaboration between FAME and the Philharmonic.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
|
|
debra peppersst. louis, mo | Years Taught: 1974 - PresentOne of Debra's original plays, “Choices,” dealing with teen issues such as peer pressure, eating disorders, drugs, teen pregnancy, and suicide was purchased by Southwestern Bell Telephone and made into a nationally distributed documentary, which eventually won an Emmy Award. Peppers considers her drama and speech classes a “dress rehearsal” for real life experiences. Her classes create, direct, and produce original public service announcements on literacy, child abuse, alcoholism, and school dropouts. She designed a “zero hour” (before school) credit class in technical theater that stemmed from a district mini-grant and now has a two-year waiting list. Each class is allowed to select its own six-week project. Students originate ideas such as developing workshops to include the middle school, ecology play for elementary schools, library instructional videos, lunch time cafeteria performances, and co-projects with other schools. She believes teachers must never forget that public schools are for the public and everyone must take ownership.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
|
|
ronald poplaushawnee, ks | Years Taught: 1962 - PresentThe basis for Ronald’s decision to choose teaching as a career was a one-year experience teaching in Brazil, where his numerous activities for social reform and anti-communism merited a personal telegram of appreciation from Brazil’s president, Casetlo Branco. He is inspired by his father, who immigrated from Germany at the turn of the century. Because of prejudice and fear, he and his siblings never attended school, which resulted in his illiteracy until his death. As a teacher, Ron was the fulfillment of his father’s dreams to free others from illiteracy. His school through its Cougars Community Commitment program was named Shawnee Citizen of the Year because of its involvement in all aspects of the community. They visit retirement homes, tutor in elementary schools, sponsor dinner- dances once a month for the elderly, provide gifts for young offenders at Christmas, cook and serve thanksgiving dinner for people with AIDS, raise funds to help pay utility bills, and have saved an elderly couple’s home from bank foreclosure. His classroom motto: The doer of good becomes good!
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
|
|
vicki swartzCorpus Christi, TX | Years Taught: 1976-2010Vicki empowers her students to actually take responsibility for the reporting
of their strengths and areas needing improvement through student led parent conferences. An Internet web site for parents articulates why math curriculum looks different from when parents went to school, why we teach handwriting the way we do, why our report cards are different, how we meet the needs of the gifted in the classroom, about the standardized tests we give, and explains the various stages of spelling development and how parents can help their children at home. She plans special events like Young Writers’ Conferences, which involve parents as helpers and as guest speakers, in addition to Family Math Nights, Multi-cultural Fairs, Curriculum Nights, and presentations of Bilingual and Exceptional Education Issues. All of her themes of studies take students into the community. ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
|
