New York educator Amanda Breheny honored in Time Magazine article

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Amanda Breheny, a Spanish teacher from Queensboro, New York, was honored in an article in Time Magazine published last September. Photo credit: Time Magazine.

When Covid-19 forced her students into distance learning, educator Amanda Breheny created new and exciting learning experiences to meet the challenges of teaching during a pandemic.

Amanda teaches Spanish to seventh graders at Queensbury Middle School, located about 215 miles north of New York City. The innovative teacher invited guest speakers from Mexico and Honduras to speak to her class via GoogleMeet. The speakers shared information with the students about the importance of access to clean water. Amanda says the speakers helped many of her students understand the challenges of not having easy access to clean water. “For them to learn that there are kids that go home and they can’t wash their hands during a pandemic, that just, I think, it really hit home with them,” she says.

As a result of the speakers’ presentations, students in Amanda’s classes launched an awareness campaign, creating videos in both English and Spanish about the importance of clean water. In addition, they partnered with Pure Water for the World, a nonprofit in Vermont to raise nearly $100 to purchase a water­-filtration system for a family in Honduras.

For her work in the classroom, Amanda Breheny was featured in the Time Magazine article entitled “Educators who Saved a Pandemic Year” published in September, 2021.

Analyn Palugod of Guam honored as Guam’s 2021 Teacher of the Year

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Elementary school teacher Analyn Palugod has Baan named the 2021 Teacher of the Year for the US territory of Guam. Photo credit: The Guam Daily Post.

I enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have been honored for their work. Among them is Analyn Palugod, an elementary school teacher from Mangilao, Guam. She has been named the territory’s 2021 Teacher of the Year.

Analyn teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) to third, fourth, and fifth graders at Adacao Elementary School in Mangilao. She also serves as the school’s ESL Coordinator. She has spent the last four years of the twelve years she has worked for the Guam Department of Education at the school. Prior to teaching ESL, she taught a variety of elementary grade levels as a regular classroom teacher.

Analyn employs a number of strategies to help her students acquire language. “Instead of words, I always try to do it through action,” she says. “So I would incorporate images. Having them summarize the story through drawing pictures, I can still be able to see that they mastered the concept. From there, I always try to incorporate the common core standards and try to make it at their own level,” she continues. In addition, her teaching methods include incorporating current events into the curriculum, which she says helps benefit her students even after they move on from her classroom.

Analyn is known to be an advocate for cultural education. She strives to help students take pride in their cultural diversity, unique backgrounds, and ways of knowing and learning. “By empowering students, I can engage their learning further while showing them that they can make an impact no matter what age they are,” asserts Analyn.

Analyn earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Guam, where she graduated in 2006 magna cum laude. She earned her Master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from the University of Southern California in 2014.

Florida computer science teacher Tim Clyatt succumbs to Covid-19

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Florida computer science teacher Tim Clyatt succumbed to complications from Covid-19 on November 13, 2021. Photo credit: Jacksonville Memorial Gardens.

Sadly, we report that yet another beloved educator has succumbed to complications from Covid-19. Tim Clyatt, a teacher in the Clay County School District in Clay County, Florida, passed away on November 13, 2021. He was only 59 years old.

Tim was a computer science teacher at the Bannerman Learning Center in Green Cove Springs. The unique facility prepares non-traditional students for success in a global and competitive workplace by teaching students positive life skills and by teaching them to become life-long learners. The school reports an enrollment of minority students at 43%, and economically disadvantaged students at 56%.

Tim’s career as an educator spanned nearly 20 years. In a statement released by the school district, Tim was described by District officials as a “dedicated teacher who made a difference in the lives of many during his teaching career.” His students agree. “It’s tragic,” remarked Bannerman ninth grader Brooklyn Powers, who described her teacher as “most of the kids’ favorite teacher at the school.” The student added, “He understood kids very well.”

Tim was born April 16, 196,1 in Lake City, Florida. After his graduation from Columbia High School in his home town in 1979, he continued his education at Florida State University.

In addition to his classroom responsibilities, Tim was a member of the National Education Association, the Florida State University Garnet Key Honor Society, the Clay County Education Association, and the Florida Education Association.

To read more about Tim Clyatt, see this link to a story about him published by The Florida Times Union.

New Mexico teacher and politician Stephanie Garcia Richard

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Former elementary school teacher Stephanie Garcia Richard served three terms in the New Mexico State House of Representatives. Photo credit: Stephanie Garcia Richard.

Many fine educators also make excellent politicians. One example of this is Stephanie Garcia Richard, a former elementary school teacher from New Mexico who served three terms in her state’s House of Representatives.

Stephanie was born in Tucumcari, New Mexico, and raised in Silver City, where she graduated from Silver High School. At a very young age, she learned the importance of serving others. Her father, a WWII veteran, was a teacher; her mother was active in their community.

After her high school graduation, Stephanie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Bernard College at Columbia University in New York in 1996. She completed the requirements for her teaching credential from California State University of Los Angeles 2006.

Once she earned her degrees, Stephanie worked as a teacher at a number of charter schools in New Mexico. From 2009 to 2012, she was employed as a third grade teacher at Pablo Royal Elementary School in Pojoaque. She’s also taught in Ohkay Owingeh, Española, California, and from 2000 to 2004, she was a teacher in Korea.

In 2012, Stephanie was elected on the Democratic ticket to represent District 43 in the New Mexico House of Representatives. The District includes parts of Los Alamos, Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, and Sandoval counties. She served three terms in the House, from 2013 to 2017. While there, she championed laws to increase access to a quality education, transparency, and investments in renewable energy, job training, and economic development. She served was the Chair of the Education Committee and the Committee for Appropriations and Finance. Currently, Stephanie is the Commissioner of Public Lands for her home state. She assumed office on January 1, 2019, and her term will end on January 1, 2023. Stephanie is the first woman, the first Latina, and the first educator to serve in the position as New Mexico’s Commissioner of Public Lands.