Tag Archives: STEM teachers

NM teacher Silvia Miranda earns prestigious PAEMST Award

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New Mexico educator Silvia Miranda has garnered a prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Photo Credit: PAEMST

Congratulations to New Mexico educator Silvia Miranda, who has garnered a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). This prestigious award honors the dedication, hard work, and important role 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.

Silvia currently works with kindergarteners through second graders at Mesa Elementary School and James Bickley Elementary School in Clovis, New Mexico. In her classroom, Silvia sets high standards for herself and her students. In her curriculum, she emphasizes whole brain strategies, a growth mindset philosophy, interest-based learning, and data-driven instruction.

During the pandemic, when her students were told they could not use the school playground for safety reasons, Silvia designed a lesson that asked her students to plan a playground that would allow for social distancing, using their newly-acquired multiplication and division skills to compute areas and to stay within a budget. In another lesson, she established a weather station and led her students in discovery learning about the links between water and weather and life. As part of that lesson, her students became “weather pals” with students in Africa, where they talked about wells and water issues.

In addition to her work in her school, Silvia is a Khan Academy Ambassador and a Statistics in our Schools Ambassador. She has served as a Clovis Municipal Schools Teacher Leader since 2018, was a state ambassador for the NM Teacher Leader Network for two years, and served on the state Secretary’s Teacher Advisory.

For her work as an educator, Silvia has earned many accolades. She is a 2020 NSTA Teacher Awards finalist, a 2018 Milken Educator Award recipient, was Clovis Teacher of the Year in 2018, and was a NM Teacher of the Year finalist. She has been awarded many grants for STEM education.

Silvia earned her Bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in Elementary Education from Eastern New Mexico University. She earned her Master’s degree, summa cum laude, in Education Literacy from Wayland Baptist University. She is a National Board Certified Teacher for early and middle childhood literacy, and she is certified in kindergarten through eighth grade elementary education with an endorsement in bilingual education.

Matt Nielson: STEM teacher, veteran, and finalist for 2022 Minnesota Teacher of the Year

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Science educator Matt Nielson from Valley City, Minnesota, has been named a finalist for the honor of 2022 Minnesota State Teacher of the Year. He is also a member of the National Guard. Photo Credit: US Army

There are many dedicated, and, I dare say, heroic teachers who work diligently in American schools. One of them is Matt Neilson, a science teacher from North Dakota who is also a member of the Minnesota National Guard.

Matt currently teaches chemistry, physics, and STEM courses to 11th and 12th graders at Valley City High in Valley City, North Dakota. He also serves as the Head Coach for both the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams. His work in his school is so highly respected and appreciated that Matt has been named one of four finalists for 2022 North Dakota Teacher of Year honors.

Matt’s curriculum emphasizes problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. For example, he developed one lesson that required students to create a periodic table based on fictitious elements. In collaborative learning pairs, the students looked for a pattern, debate their proposed solutions with each other, and then justify their conclusions. This Chalkboard Champion also promotes the value of relationships. “The more adults that they know that care about them, that kind of helps them along their path,” declares Matt. 

In addition to his work in the classroom, Matt serves as a Captain in the North Dakota National Guard. His military occupational specialty is a chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear officer. For his service, the exemplary educator has earned a Meritorious Service Medal for completing 20 years of service. “I served over in Iraq in 2003-2004,” reveals Matt. “In 2006, I re-enlisted, and in 2009 I talked with my wife and we decided, you know what, we’re going to make a career of it and stayed in for 20,” he continues. “I believed in what we were doing. I believed in the mission. I believed in our state and our country,” he says.

 

Florida’s Katrina Madok garners prestigious PAEMST honor

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Fifth grade teacher Katrina Madok of Key West, Florida, has garnered a prestigious 2022 PAEMST honor. Photo Credit: keys news.com

I always enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Katrina Madok, an elementary STEM teacher from Key West, Florida. She has garnered a  2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). This prestigious award honors the dedication, hard work, and important role 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.

Katrina teaches science to fifth graders at Gerald Adams Elementary School. Her students are part of the Gifted Education program there. She has also taught at Marathon High School and Kesher Academy, an independent Jewish Day School for students with learning disabilities and developmental delays. Before moving to Florida, Katrina taught in Southern California for ten years. In all, her career as an educator has spanned more than 30 years.

In her classroom, Katrina creates curriculum that involves hands-on science investigations, regularly incorporating STEM challenges. She advances environmental education through school-wide recycling, gardening, and endangered species awareness projects. She also integrates coding and robotics activities on her campus, leading to the creation of after-school bots and coding groups. In these groups, students as early as kindergarten actively use a variety of robots to engage critical thinking skills and learn the foundations for coding.

Katrina has contributed to her school in other ways, too. She has written several grants, she has served as an advisory board member at Infiniscope for two years, she has coached Odyssey of the Mind Teams, and she has participated in citizen science projects with her students. She has also presented at local, state, and national conferences on topics related to robotics and STEM.

In addition to her PAEMST honors, Katrina has earned numerous other accolades for her work as an educator. Last year, she was selected by NASA to help lead a program called Inifiniscope. The program provides exploratory science activities and lessons using experts in NASA data and NASA subject matter. In 2014, she garnered the Elementary Florida Ag in the Classroom Award. She has also been recognized numerous times by the Monroe County School District, the Key West Chamber of Commerce, the state of Florida and a host of other national science programs.

Katrina earned a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and her Master’s degree in Special Education, both from the University of California at San Diego.

To read more about Katrina Madok, click this link to an article about her published on keysnews.com.

Idaho’s Courtney Greene garners prestigious PAEMST

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Fifth grade STEM educator Courtney Greene of Idaho, shown here assisting a student in directed inquiry, has garnered a prestigious 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Photo Credit: Coeur d’Alene Post Falls Press.

It is always my pleasure to share stories about exceptional educators who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Courtney Green, an elementary STEM teacher from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She has garnered a prestigious 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

Courtney currently teaches fifth grade at Fernan STEM Academy. Previously she taught at Bryan Elementary, Hayden Meadows Elementary, Sorensen Elementary, and Bovill Elementary. Her career as an educator spans 21 years.

Courtney’s passion for inquiry has led to partnerships with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the University of Idaho to create authentic, place-based learning experiences for her students. Her class’s latest inquiry unit was a case study of a local creek system, which had students as collaborators with the community conservation water management team led by tribal scientists.

Courtney says she is especially interested in the environment, and the local ecosystem is her passion. She says she wants students to ask their own questions and wonder about the world so they will take ownership of their own learning. “Kids are natural scientists because they do ask all those questions,” asserts Courtney.”“So almost everything we start with is framed around questions.” Then she takes the standards and turns them into questions that students can ask more questions about.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Courtney has conducted presentations about inquiry-based learning pedagogy at the Northwest Council for Computer Education, the Idaho Education Technology Association, and the Idaho STEM Action Center’s ISTEM conference. She also leads professional development workshops to support teachers in creating science storyline units. Furthermore, she is an active member of the Idaho Science Teachers Association.

Courtney earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Idaho.

To learn more about Courtney Greene, see this article about her published by the Coeur d’Alene Post Falls Press.

Michigan teacher Bridget Zahradnik garners 2022 PAEMST Award

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Elementary school science teacher Bridget Zahradnik of Novi, Michigan, has garnered a prestigious 2022 PAEMST Award. Photo Credit: PAEMST

It is always my pleasure to share stories about exceptional educators who have earned recognition for their work in the classroom. One of these is Bridget Zahradnik, an elementary school science teacher from Michigan who has garnered a 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

Bridget has been a professional educator for 24 years. Currently she teaches fifth grade math and science at Novi Meadows Elementary in Novi, Michigan. Previously, she taught first and third grades for 19 years at Parkview Elementary School. Prior to that, she taught Spanish for a year at Village Oaks and Orchard Hills Elementary Schools in Detroit, and first grade at both J.S. Slocum Elementary School in Pineville, Louisiana, and McKinley Elementary School in Corona, California.

The honored educator has worked diligently to improve science instruction in her school district, declares Steve Mathews, Superintendent of Novi Community Schools. “Bridget Zahradnik has been instrumental in updating our science curriculum and a strong advocate for engaging science instruction,” he says. “She has helped move our district science curriculum forward and improved science instruction, especially at the elementary level,” he continues. Matthews notes that Bridget was instrumental in transforming the traditional science fair to an “invention convention.” This event requires students to develop creative solutions to a problem each on has selected. In some cases, the students’ solutions have resulted in patents, including one for a healthy lollipop and another for a LEGO sorter. In addition, Bridget launched a fundraising drive to pay for outdoor learning spaces in Novi. Because of her efforts, her district received a $400,000 grant to fund the project.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Bridget serves as her District’s Science Content Area leader, designs and delivers professional development, and works as an educational consultant. She has also published numerous articles about science instruction, makerspaces, project-based learning, and subject matter integration.

Bridget earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 1996 and her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 2002, both from Michigan State University.

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.