NV educator Laura Jeanne Penrod named her state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year
Congratulations to Nevada educator Laura Jeanne Penrod, who has been named her state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Laura Jeanne Penrod
Congratulations to educator Laura Jeanne Penrod of Clark County, Nevada! She has been named her state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year.
Laura teaches dual-credit English courses to seniors at Southwest Career and Technical Academy, a magnet high school in her Las Vegas school. She has worked at the school since it opened in 2009. She inaugurated her first job in the profession at Eldorado High School in East Las Vegas in 2006. In all, her career as an educator spans 18 years.
In her classroom, this outstanding educator emphasizes project-based learning, social-emotional learning, and leadership skills. She is passionate about empowering her students in projects that serve the community. For example, she organized her students to advocate in Nevada’s 82nd Legislative Session with Assemblyman Duy Nguyen and Assemblywoman Erica Mosca to pass Assembly Bill 274, which addressed the topic of financial literacy, and Assembly Bill 24, which addressed the topic of access to college and career readiness programs.
Her advocacy for the profession extends beyond her school. Laura serves as an ambassador for the Nevada Future of Learning Network; a Teacher Cabinet Member of the national Teach Plus CEO; and a facilitator for the Teach Plus National Teacher of Color Network. She is also a contributing columnist for the Nevada Independent, where she publishes articles about educational topics.
Education runs in Laura’s blood. Her mother, Miriam Smyth, was a longtime Spanish teacher in the Clark County School District. “Seeing her teach was magical, and I want to be magical like her,” Laura remembers. “I want to walk out of my job every day knowing that this is how I’m changing the world in positive ways, and I want to help kids,” she declares.
Laura earned her Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from California State University, Bakersfield, in 2005. She earned her Master’s degree in Special Education at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2007.
Read more about Laura Jeanne Penrod at her website.
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NASA celebrates Educator Astronauts during annual Space Week observance
Educator Astronauts Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger (left), Ricard Arnold (center), and Joseph Acaba (right). Photo credit: NASA
The recent solar eclipse has renewed an interest in all things that occur in space. In addition, NASA has just concluded this year’s annual celebration of Space Week, which took place from April 6—13, 2024. During this celebration, teachers throughout the country explore a variety of lesson plans and hands-on experiments that teach STEM concepts in the classroom. Through these educational experiences, teacher provide their students with authentic content, hands-on inquiry-based experiences, and partner-driven collaborations. All of these events remind me of our nation’s Educator Astronaut program.
The Educator Astronaut Project is a program sponsored by NASA to educate America’s students about space exploration. Inaugurated in the 1990s, the program advances the objectives established in the original Teacher in Space Program from the 1980s. One of these objectives was to elevate teaching as a profession, and another was to inspire students to pursue careers in science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM). Another of the primary goals of the project is to give educators the skills and knowledge to use NASA-related content in their classrooms.
Educator astronauts are teachers, but they are also fully trained astronauts who fly aboard spacecraft as full-fledged crew members. They have duties and responsibilities that are the same as any other astronaut. In addition, they prepare lessons and demonstrations about space exploration for students in America’s classrooms.
To date, there have been four teachers who have been trained as educator astronauts. These teachers are Barbara Morgan of Montana; educator Joseph Acaba of Florida; Richard Arnold of Maryland; and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger of Washington. New Hampshire educator Christa McAuliffe, the first participant in the Teacher in Space program, was classified as a civilian member of the crew. Tragically, she perished along with six astronauts in the space shuttle Challengerdisaster in 1986.
To read more about teachers in space, click on this link to Citizens in Space.org. To read more about the Educator Astronaut Project, click on this link to Revolvy.
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Best practice suggestion by Tiffany Scott
Dr. Arlene Kramer pioneered bilingual education programs in Colorado
Arlene Kramer devoted her career as an educator as a pioneer and champion of bilingual education. Photo Credit: Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame
There are many educators who achieve monumental contributions to their profession. One of these was Arlene Vigil Kramer, a pioneer educator. She devoted her career to championing bilingual education for non-English speaking students.
Arlene was born April 1, 1938, in Colorado. As a young woman, she attended the University of Colorado, where she earned both her Master’s and PhD degrees. In fact, she was the first Latina to earn a PhD degree in Education.
After completing her education, Arlene inaugurated her career in public schools in 1959 when she accepted a position as a second grade teacher at Spann Elementary School in Pueblo, Colorado. At the time, 80% of her students had limited mastery of the English language. To help meet the needs of bilingual students, Arlene designed the first bilingual instruction curriculum used in the state of Colorado. Her efforts ultimately led to landmark legislation in 1975 that mandated bilingual education programs for all Colorado children who were learning English is a second language. Later Arlene expanded her work in to include high school and college-age students.
But Arlene’s contributions to the contributions did not end there. She was a founding member and the first Vice President of the Colorado Association for Bilingual and Bi-Cultural Education (CABBE). She was also a member of the National Head Start Bilingual Programs Overview Board, the Child Welfare League of America, and the National Council de La Raza. In 1979, she was a co-founder of Adelante Mujer, an organization that works to prepare high school and college Latinas for their future careers. She also served as a Dean of the School of Professional Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
For her body of work, Arlene was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2016. That same year, she was named an inductee into the Latina Legacy Circle.
