Amanda Harris named South Dakota’s 2020 Teacher of the Year
Congratulations to Amanda Harris, a fourth grade teacher at Endeavor Elementary in the Harrisburg School District in South Dakota. She has been named her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: South Dakota State University
Congratulations to Amanda Harris, a fourth grade teacher at Endeavor Elementary in the Harrisburg School District in South Dakota. She has been named her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year.
After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education in 2007 from South Dakota State University, Amanda accepted a position as a third grade teacher with Sioux Falls Catholic Schools. She taught there for two years. She has taught in the Harrisburg School District since 2013.
The honored educator enjoys her work with fourth graders. “Their autonomy draws me in. I love their independence, but they still need that scaffolding on the side,” Amanda says. “I love being able to set them up for success and give them the tools they need and watch them go,” she continued.
In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Amanda has established several after school clubs at her school, including a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) club and stop-motion movie-making club. She also helped inaugurate a theater company on her campus.
In addition, Amanda has served on curriculum committees in her district, and regularly presents at educator conferences. Harris is a previous recipient of a South Dakota Education Association/National Education Association Educational Innovation Grant.
“The South Dakota Teacher of the Year program is all about celebrating the vital work of educators and their impact on the lives of students,” expressed Ben Jones, South Dakota Secretary of Education.
After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education in 2007 from South Dakota State University, Amanda accepted a position as a third grade teacher with Sioux Falls Catholic Schools. She taught there for two years. She has taught in the Harrisburg School District since 2013.
To read more about Amanda, see this story about her published on the website of South Dakota State University.
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Alternative school educator Mike Padron succumbs to Covid
Alternative school educator Mike Padron of Rockford, Illinois, succumbed to Covid on Nov. 19, 2020. He was just 38 years old. Photo credit: Rockford Register Star
With great sadness we report the loss of yet another educator to Covid. Mike Padron, a teacher in Rockford, Illinois, succumbed to the disease on November 19, 2020. He was just 38 years old.
Mike taught at Language Arts at Summit Academy, the alternative school for the Boone-Winnebago Regional School District. Mike’s widow Nikki Padron, who is an elementary school teacher, asserted that her husband dedicated his career to helping Rockford’s “most delicate students.” She said he held his students to the highest standard and championed their progress.
Mike was favorite among his colleagues and students, remembers Scott Bloomquist, the Regional Superintendent of the Boone-Winnebago Regional Office of Education. “Mr. Padron worked hard every day to connect with students and parents, doing all he could to meet their needs. He will forever be remembered as an educator who put students first,” Bloomquist declared.
Mike was born on April 19, 1982. After Mike Padron graduated from Boylan Catholic High School, he earned his degree at Rockford University. He launched his career as an educator at Rockford’s Kennedy Middle School. At the time of his passing, he was teaching Language Arts at Summit Academy. In 2014, MIke was nominated for a Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.
To read more about Mike Padron, see this obituary at legacy.com.
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Schoolmarm Mary Ann Dyer: Pioneer of the Texas Panhandle
Schoolmarm Mary Ann Dyer became known as a pioneer of the Texas Panhandle. Photo credit: Texas State Historical Associatoin
I enjoy sharing stories of intrepid educators who courageously braved the dangers faced by our early pioneers. One of these was schoolmarm Mary Ann Dyer, who has often been called a pioneer of the Texas Panhandle.
Mary Ann, who was frequently called Molly, was born September 12, 1839, in Madison County, Tennessee. Her family included prominent lawyers and government officials. When she was just a teenager, her family relocated to Weatherford, Texas. There her parents died, and the young woman was forced to raise her five brothers on her own.
Mary Ann was just a young woman when the Civil War broke out, and the elder two of her brothers enlisted in the Confederate Army. To help support the three younger brothers, Mary Ann accepted a position as a schoolmarm in the local school.
In 1870, the young schoolmarm married Charles Goodnight, a Texas rancher and cattle-driver. After first settling in Colorado, the couple established their Texas Pandhandle ranch, at first living in a sod dugout while Charles built their log house. On the ranch, Mary Ann became a nurse, homemaker, and substitute mother to the cowboys who worked for her husband. She taught them to read, patched their clothes, and hosted parties to entertain them. Over the years that followed, Mary Ann rescued and raised orphaned buffaloes. She helped establish the Goodnight buffalo herd, which became well-known all over the world. Some of her buffalo were crossbred with range cattle to produce a new breed, the “cattalo.” The breed is now known as “buffalo.”
Over time, many more settlers established homes in the Panhandle, building churches, schools, and other organizations. To help educate these newcomers, Mary Ann helped establish Goodnight College in 1898. The college was open until 1917, but closed with the opening of West Texas State Normal College in Canyon, Texas, and Clarendon College in nearby Clarendon, Texas.
Mary Ann (Molly) Dyer passed away on April 11, 1926, in Armstrong County, Texas. She was 86 years old. Her headstone reads “One who spent her whole life in the service of others.” In 1991, this Chalkboard Champion was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.
To read more about this amazing teacher and pioneer, see Love Untamed: Romances of the Old West by Jo Ann Chartier and Chris Enss. The volume can be found on amazon.
