Nationally recognized educator Brigitte Tennis of Washington state

I truly enjoy sharing stories about terrific classroom teachers. That’s what this blog is all about! Today I’m sharing the story of Brigitte Tennis, a multi-subject teacher from Redmond, Washington.

Brigitte earned two Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Washington in 1981, one in Violin Performance and the other in Teaching. She attended the university on an academic scholarship. She earned her Master’s degree in Education from City University in Redmond. In 2006 she earned her National Board Certification.

Brigitte inaugurated her career teaching a full time program for gifted students second, third, and fourth graders at Mark Twain Elementary School. She worked in that position from 1981 to 1985. She spent the next year teaching third and fourth grade at the same school, and then transferred to Ben Franklin Elementary School, where she taught sixth grade for four years from 1986 to 2000. She then established and became the headmistress of Stella Schola Middle School, located in Redmond, Washington. There she teaches Latin, history, science, algebra, and English. In all she has devoted 36 years to the profession of teaching.

Brigitte has collaborated with the Department of Neurosensory Engineering at the University of Washington for the past four years, designing lessons for students and teaching a summer workshop for educators in the area of neuroscience. In addition, this chalkboard champion takes her high school students to Italy each year as the culminating experience after four years of Latin.

Brigitte has earned many awards for her work in the classroom. In 2004 she was named a Disney Hand American Teacher honoree. In both 2008 and 2009 she earned Sylvan Learning’s Teachers Who Make a Difference Award. And in 2015, this amazing educator was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas.