Tag Archives: Elementary Teachers

Oregon educator Kim Roberts earns coveted DKG Award

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Oregon educator Kim Roberts has earned the coveted Delta Kappa Gamma 2020 Oregon State Organization Award for Service to Education. Photo credit: DKG, Oregon State Organization.

Students in American schools are so fortunate to be served by so many dedicated and hardworking educators. One of these is Kim Roberts, an award-winning educator from Grant’s Pass, Oregon.

Kim works as a District Autism Consultant for the Three Rivers School District in Grant’s Pass in Josephine County. She provides staff and family members information, resources, and training to support autistic students. She is a liaison for connecting families with community agencies. In addition, she serves on the Traumatic Brain Injury team in her area. Kim has a reputation for being compassionate about her work and mindful that every situation is unique. She is careful to tailor instructional plans to meet each student’s need.

For her work, Kim has garnered the Delta Kappa Gamma 2020 Oregon State Organization Award for Service to Education. Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG) is a professional organization whose members work together to improve professional preparation, to recognize women’s work in the teaching profession, and to fund scholarships for teachers who need support to improve their professional skills.

Hawaii’s Lori Miki Kwee named her state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year

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Elementary school educator Lori Miki Kwee of Hawaii has been named her state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Honolulu Star Advertiser

I love to share stories about innovative educators from all over the country. One of these is Lori Miki Kwee, an elementary teacher in Hawaii who has been named her state’s Teacher of the Year.

Lori currently teaches fourth grade at Ala Was Elementary School in Honolulu. Interestingly, her mother was also a teacher at that school. Lori’s career as an educator in public schools has spanned 31 years.

During the pandemic, Lori and her students created a business, which they have named #Sharealoha, to promote kindness and fellowship among others and to raise funds to build a student-designed “peaceful oasis” on the school grounds. For this business, participants created and sell unique Jars of Aloha, #Sharealoha T-shirts, and face masks.

Lori has long invested in programs with her students that attempt to eliminate bullying. Through active inquiry, her students explore forgiveness, compassion, and methods to manage emotions. Her students engage in student-led learning projects based on their interests and curiosities, and they explore how kindness affects health and well-being. For these efforts, Lori was honored by the National Life Group as their National Life Changer for 2018-2019.

In 2017, Lori’s students chose to launch a class project to save the Vaquita porpoise, an endangered species endemic to the Gulf of California. They spent hours writing reports, letters to policy makers, and social media posts in their effort to save the Vaquita porpoise. As a result, their attendance and test scores increased, and they became skilled in their pursuit of information and finding answers to their questions.

Lori earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Hawaii. To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this article published about her in the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

Angel Santiago named New Jersey 2021 Teacher of the Year

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Educator Angel Santiago of Blackwood, New Jersey, has been named his state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Angel Santiago.

Congratulations go to educator Angel Santiago of Blackwood, New Jersey, who has been named his state’s 2021Teacher of the Year. Angel teaches Language Arts to fifth graders at Loring Flemming Elementary School.

Angel says he owes his successes in the classroom to his passion for fostering strong relationships with his students, their families, his colleagues, and the community in which he serves. In addition to his classroom responsibilities, Angel is the facilitator of the group Young People of Character (YPOC). This group of fourth and fifth graders, who come from different socio-economic backgrounds, participate in various community service projects to promote teamwork, empathy, and personal growth. Some of the projects the group has been involved in include writing letters to veterans for Veterans Day, cleaning up the school grounds for Earth Day, and volunteering during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. “Community outreach is a great example of how a rural community like mine uses empathy, teamwork, and leadership to teach our students life lessons without using textbooks or assessments, but rather our hands and our hearts,” asserts Angel.

The honored educator has taught his entire professional career in Camden County. In 2012 he began teaching in the Lindenwold Public Schools, and in 2013 he moved to Gloucester Township Public Schools where he continues to teach.

Angel graduated from New Jersey’s Fairleigh Dickinson University. He earned both a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Humanities. In addition, he is a member of both Phi Theta Kappa and Kappa Delta Pi Honor Societies.

To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this article published online by the New Jersey Education Association.

Rhode Island educator Ashley Adamson earns Teacher of the Year award

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Rhode Island educator Ashley Adamson, who teaches third grade at Hathaway Elementary in Portsmouth, has been named her state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: East Bay Rhode Island.

Congratulations are in order for educator Ashley Adamson of Rhode Island, who has been named her state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. Ashley teaches third grade at Hathaway Elementary in Portsmouth.

Ashley earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Rhode Island. She has taught in Portsmouth since 2010. She has spent the last six years at Hathaway Elementary since 2015. Her daily lessons consist of small-group, differentiated instruction that derives from assessment data and self-reflection. Lisa Little, Principal of Hathaway, describes Ashely as an outstanding teacher. “Whether interacting with students, communicating with parents, sharing with colleagues, leading or attending professional development activities, she excels at her job,” expressed Little. “Her knowledge of children and how they learn and her genuine love of teaching are extraordinary.”

In addition to her classroom responsibilities, she has served as an instructor for the RICAS Ramp Up Program, as a presenter on social and emotional learning for colleagues, and as a pilot teacher for a new adoption of the English Language Arts curriculum. In addition, she has served as a middle school coach for softball, basketball, and soccer; as a student counselor advisor; and as an advisor for the school robotics group. Her career as an educator has spanned a total of 14 years.

For her work as an educator, Ashley has earned many accolades. In addition to Rhode Island’s 2021 Teacher of the Year, she has been recognized as the 2019 Portsmouth Teacher of the Year; she earned an Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Learning (ECET) Award in 2018; and she garnered Carter Spark Grants in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

To read more about Ashley Adamson, see this article about her published by the Rhode Island Department of Education.

Teacher and bullet-dodging journalist Esther Hansen Clark

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Elementary schoolteacher Esther Hansen Clark earned acclaim as a daredevil journalist, dodging bullets in Viet Nam. Photo credit: Skirting Traditions.

“In an era of afternoon ten-cent newspapers and all-male newsrooms, Esther Clark, a former elementary school teacher who years later would dodge bullets in Vietnam, established her credentials in Arizona as a versatile and fearless reporter.” So says biographer Carol Cain Hughes about Chalkboard Champion and journalist Esther Hansen Clark.

Esther Hansen was born on September 9, 1910, in Denver, Colorado. As a young girl, she attended Manual Training High School. Upon her graduation, she enrolled in Greeley College, where future teachers were trained. This institution is now known as the University of Northern Colorado. Once her education there was completed, Esther accepted a position an an elementary school teacher in southeastern Colorado. In 1936 Esther married Frank Clark, and nine years later the couple moved to Phoenix, Arizona.

In Phoenix, Esther became employed as a journalist for the Phoenix Gazette, a post she held for nearly 30 years. During her tenure there, she published news stories about current events in Arizona, including dispatches detailing the Civil Rights Freedom Concert, American Indian affairs, military news, and the conflict in the Middle East. “Some of her achievements read like daredevil stunts,” says Hughes. “She was the first newswoman to fly in a T-33, a B-47 Stratojet bomber, and an F-100 Super Sabre jet that cracked the sonic barrier.” Other difficult assignments included simulating bailing out of a jet at 43,000 feet and traveling to Panama with the US Army to participate in rigorous jungle warfare training. But it was her 1966 stint as one of the first women reporters embedded on the front lines in the war-torn jungles of Viet Nam that have earned her the greatest acclaim. For her pioneering work in the field of journalism, Esther was profiled by Time magazine. She also garnered the coveted Dickey Chapelle Award in 1941. She was recognized with the Marine Corps League Awards for Notable Contributions to the Marine Corps and the Nation in 1971. Actor John Wayne was similarly honored that year.

Esther retired from the Gazette in 1973, and in 1986 she returned to her home state of Colorado. She passed away on August 1, 1990, in Grand Junction, Colorado. She was 79 years old.

For more about this amazing educator and journalist, you can read Hughes’ more detailed account in Skirting Traditions: Arizona Women Writers and Journalists 1912-2012.