Elementary school teacher Shianne Schmidt from Whitefish, Montana, has garnered a coveted 2020 PAEMST. Photo Credit: Whitefish Pilot

There are many talented educators who have earned recognition for their outstanding work in the classroom. One of these is Shianne Schmidt, an elementary school teacher from Whitefish, Montana. She has garnered a coveted PAEMST in 2020.

In a career that has spanned 11 years, Shianne has spent the last six of them teaching third and fourth graders at Olney Bissell School in Whitefish. She previously taught a combination of third and fourth graders at Reed Point Elementary School in Reed Point, Montana. She inaugurated her career as a teacher at Koliganek Public School in Dilliingham, Alaska.

Shianne teaches all subject areas in her classroom, but mathematics is her favorite subject and her area of special expertise. But this expertise took time and effort to develop. She says math wasn’t always an area of strength for her, and she could tell it was a subject that many of her young students struggled with. When she noticed that many of her students expressed frustration with math, or when they made comments such as, “I’ll never be good at math,” she knew she had to find a way to turn the negative into a positive. “I said, we’ve got to change that,” Shianne recalls. “That’s got to change. What can I do to help these kids learn better?” To accomplish this, the honored educator worked diligently to become an expert herself. “I started re-teaching math to myself so that it made sense to me and so it made sense to students,” she explained. “I learned in that journey there was not just one way to get the answer or solution.” And along the way, she learned to love the subject.

Shianne expresses her love of math by developing engaging activities that motivate her students. She excites children in mathematical learning with classroom transformations and project-based learning tasks. Some of the students’ favorites have been creating their own food truck, rollercoaster mathematics, and a cross-curricular unit that studies Alaska’s famous Iditarod race.

The PAEMST, Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, is an honor that recognizes the dedication, hard work, and importance that America’s teachers play in supporting learners who will become future STEM professionals, including computer technologists, climate scientists, mathematicians, innovators, space explorers, and engineers. The PAEMST program, founded in 1983, is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The honor comes with a $10,000 cash prize.

New York City elementary school teacher Shara Breit has been recognized as an exceptional educator with a 2023 Big Apple Award. Photo Credit: New York City Department of Education

New York City is very proud of their public school teachers. In fact, city educational leaders regularly recognize exceptional teachers with their annual Big Apple Award. In 2023, one of these educators was Shara Breit, an elementary school teacher from Staten Island.

Shara teaches fourth grade at Public School 11, also known as Thomas Dongan School. Her professional philosophy is that every student in her classroom should have “voice and choice.” Upon entering her classroom, students and alike immediately feel they are immersed in a relaxed atmosphere and culture that invites all students to succeed. Shara makes sure that her youngsters are provided with enrichment opportunities and projects that have been created in collaboration with her students. Some of these have even gone schoolwide.

Shara says she understands that keeping her students at the center of the instructional program means engaging their families in their education, too. She regularly invites families to lessons she calls “Parents as Learning Partners.” These lessons are interactive. During the pandemic, the lessons were provided virtually, and once the school returned to in-person instruction, many parents requested their children remain remote with Shara, because they simply did not want to leave the popular teacher’s online platform.

In addition to her responsibilities as a classroom teacher, Shara serves as a Grade Team Leader, a social and emotional learning (SEL) coordinator, and a data specialist. In her role as the data specialist, she facilitates grade-level and school-level (horizontal and vertical) Inquiry/Impact Team work to decide upon the best instructional practices to promote the highest levels of student achievement at all grade levels.

The Big Apple Award was presented to 20 New York City teachers. Each one was nominated by their principal for work in the profession that inspires students, models great teaching, and enriches school communities. The recipients were chosen through a rigorous selection process that includes community nominations, principal recommendations, classroom visits, an interview, and a review by a board of judges. To learn more about the program and this year’s recipients, click on this link to Big Apple Awards.