PE teacher Stacie Lawler named Idaho’s 2020 State Teacher of the Year

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Physical Education teacher and coach Stacie Lawler named Idaho’s 2020 State Teacher of the Year. She earned the honor for her work combating the stigma of mental health issues.

Physical Education teacher and coach Stacie Lawler of Spirit Lake, Idaho, has just been named her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. Congratulations, Stacie!

Stacie has been a teacher in the Lakeland Joint School District in Spirit Lake, Idaho, for 11 years. She inaugurated her career as a physical education teacher at Twin Lakes Elementary. While there, she designed and delivered a new curriculum for K-6 physical education. She also developed a grade 7-8 curriculum at Timberlake Junior High, where she has taught since 2014. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Stacie coaches cross-country and track, helps coach the cheerleading squad, and was the lead in setting up a successful district-wide Life Awareness Relay.

But Stacie earned her recognition from the Idaho State Department of Education for her work towards combating the stigma around mental health issues. Her campaign started when she made the difficult decision to reveal to her students the struggle of some of her family members with mental health issues. She says this inaugurated a valuable dialogue that made textbook issues real. And it freed students to address their own challenges. Since then, Stacie has been asked to share her experiences with co-workers, parents and others. She has vigorously advocated the distribution of mental health resources to her students.

Stacie also works towards increasing the knowledge of the subject for her fellow teachers. “I believe a major issue in public education today is educators’ lack of knowledge about mental health,” asserts Stacie. “It’s a frightening position to be in when you are ill-equipped to deal with a crisis.” To improve the staff’s ability to respond to such a crisis, Stacie has researched and presented educational materials to her co-workers.

The chalkboard champion also takes her campaign to the community. Stacie helped launch a neighborhood coalition to talk about suicide. “We must teach our children that it is OK to talk about not being OK,” Stacie declares. “What if we had a child tell us they were thinking of killing themselves and we knew what to do about it?”

As the 2020 Idaho Teacher of the Year, Stacie will serve as a spokesperson and representative for Idaho educators. She will travel to Washington D.C. as Idaho’s nominee for National Teacher of the Year.

To read the announcement of Stacie’s selection, click on this link: Idaho State Department of Education.

Kellie May named Utah’s 2019 Teacher of the Year

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Salt Lake City teacher Kellie May named Utah’s 2019 State Teacher of the Year.

Congratulations are in order for Utah educator Kellie May of Salt Lake City. She has just been named the 2019 Utah Teacher of the Year!

Kellie was employed at West High School in the Salt Lake City School District. There she was involved with the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Program. The program helps students in under-represented populations prepare for college and succeed once they get there. AVID programs have been established in all 50 states and many countries abroad.

This chalkboard champion has earned the praise of many of her colleagues. “She has a knack for working with students and really getting them to see and believe in their own potential,” said Salt Lake City School District Superintendent Lexi Cunningham. “She was instrumental in getting kids to graduate.”

In addition to her seven years at West High, Kellie has also taught at Bryant Middle School, Lincoln Elementary (now called Liberty), and Northwest Middle School. Currently she is an Associate Instructor at the University of Utah, where she trains new teachers.

A lifelong learner, Kellie declares she has dedicated her whole career to public education. Kellie says she loves teaching, and works hard to share that passion with others. In addition, Kellie admits teaching can be challenging, but she asserts it can also be the most rewarding profession.

Kellie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Health Education at the University of Utah in 1995. She earned a Master’s in Teaching and Learning in 2000, and a second Master’s in Educational Leadership and Administration in 2011, also from the University of Utah.

A check for $10,000 was presented to the honored educator. Next, she will meet with Teachers of the Year from all over the country at a national conference. These educators will also meet with the president in Washington, DC, and attend space camp in Alabama next summer.

To read more about Kellie, read this story in the Salt Lake City Tribune.

Dennis DeYoung of Styx: He was once a music teacher

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Styx band member Dennis DeYoung was once an elementary school music teacher.

Many people know Dennis DeYoung, the celebrity vocalist and keyboardist who is one of the founding members of the rock band Styx. But did you know that he once taught music to elementary school students in Chicago suburbs?

Dennis was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February 18, 1947, and raised in the Roseland neighborhood. When he was 16 years old, Dennis teamed up with his 15-year-old neighbors, Chuck and John Panozzo, to form a three-piece combo. Later, James Young and John Curulewski joined the group, and they changed their name to Tradewinds. The band renamed itself TW4 in 1968, and finally settled on the name Styx in 1970.

Before Styx hit it big, Dennis taught school at Springfield Elementary School  in Midlothian, a suburb of Chicago. “I came out of college with a degree in education, and I was a music teacher,” he remembered. “I would go into my 40 minutes in front of a class, then the next audience would come in. I saw teaching as one of the noblest professions, and it’s really undervalued. I don’t know about other cultures, but certainly in our culture,” he continued.

To read more, view this online article and interview published by Songwriter Universe.

Science teacher Carl Warfield creates classroom zoo

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The students who enter the classroom of high school science teacher Carl Warfield find themselves in the middle of a zoo. The innovative educator has turned his room into a home for snakes, spiders, lizards, birds, and a plethora of other animals.

Carl currently teaches at East Kentwood High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He’s been teaching for 23 years. He says he started bringing live animals into his classroom about 20 years ago. It started with just two animals, but now there are dozens. Carl is proud of his zoo. “It’s the classroom I always wanted to have,” he confessed. “I did not envision this growing to this, but it was just a way to say, ‘Hey, science is alive,'” the innovative educator said.

“It is a unique, hand’s on experience for the kids,” Carl explained. “We are one of those programs that, you know, you may not be an athlete, you may not be a musician, you may not be an artist. But if you’ve got heart, and compassion, and animals are your thing, we’ve got something here for you,” he continued.

In addition to his status as a local celebrity of sorts, Carl’s efforts in the classroom have won him financial recognition. He and his colleague, Shannon Goodwin, garnered a $1,000 check from Grand Valley State University, College of Education, for developing a salmon restoration program they call the Groundswell Project. The project offers students the opportunity to grow salmon in the classroom. The salmon are later released into the river, where they then migrate to Lake Michigan.

To read more about Carl Warfield, see this online article entitled Classroom or Zoo?

Brenda Barreras named one of five 2020 CA Teachers of the Year

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Kindergarten teacher  Brenda Barreras from Perris, California, has just been named the 2020 CA State Teacher of the Year.

On Oct. 4, 2019, California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond announced the names of the five educators to be recognized as 2020 California State Teachers of the Year. One of the five Thurmond honored is Brenda Barreras, a kindergarten teacher from Good Hope Elementary School in Perris, Riverside County, California.

Brenda has overcome many obstacles on her way to the classroom. She was only 16 years old when she immigrated to the United States, and when she arrived, she could not speak English. In spite of this, she became an honor roll student by the time she graduated high school.

Brenda has been teaching for 22 years. During those years, she has targeted the needs of English-language learners. She led the California Association for Bilingual Educators program at her previous school, Palms Elementary. She also founded an English-language tutoring program to provide assistance to students before and after school. “Ms. Barreras has used her own personal experience to inspire students to succeed,” declared Dr. Judy D. White, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools.  “As she has demonstrated, public education is the cornerstone of our democracy and changes the lives of our students for the better,” Dr. White continued.

Brenda will be joining the other four California State Teachers of the Year in Sacramento in January to meet with Superintendent Thurmond when the group will be formally recognized at a gala. The other educators who have been selected are Sean Bui from Cupertino High School in Cupertino; Mandy Kelly from Trabuco Mesa Elementary School in Rancho Santa Margarita; Guy Meyers from John Burroughs High School in Burbank; and Katya Robinson from West Sonoma County Consortium School in Sebastopol.

To read more about Brenda, click on this link from the Press Enterprise.