This month's Teacher of the Month is Christina Purcell.
The KBAY Teacher of the Month for July is Christina Purcell, who teaches 5th grade at Robert Sanders Elementary School in the Mount Pleasant School District. Christina has taught in Mount Pleasant for one year after teaching in Moreno Valley for nine years beginning as a substitute teacher. Christina will receive a Teacher Innovation Grant for her classes from the Silicon Valley Education Foundation.
When asked what she liked most about being a teacher, Christina replied, “My students. I love this age, they get my sense of humor and can throw it right back. They are all unique, with their own personalities and special talents, and I love seeing them discover their strengths. Robert Sanders Elementary School has approximately 500 students in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Over 60% of the students are English language learners.
Christina used her SVEF grant to take her students on a math related bowling field trip. She says, “I always look for fun ways to teach my students. I wanted them to be able to relate the math we learn to a real life situation. By going on this trip, they will not only fully understand mean, median, mode, and range, but they will also learn how to manually keep bowling scores. In addition, they will be exercising. I hope that this will motivate some of my students and they will find it an enjoyable physical activity worth repeating.”
Christina says that the biggest challenges she faces every day in teaching is, “vocabulary. Most of my students are English language learners. We would do vocabulary activities every week, to build up their knowledge. Sometimes, even pictures wouldn't get the message across. I would actually bring in an actual example of the word, such as ginger and parsley”
Congratulations to Christina Purcell, KBAY’s Teacher of the Month for July.
So far the Silicon Valley Education Foundation has given 143 Grants that go directly to classrooms! As we go back to school, it's time to GIVE BACK to the schools that taught us. This fall, give generously to the Silicon Valley Education Foundation.
How Can I Support SVEF?
The generosity of the greater community helps to carry out our vision of a greater Silicon Valley. Go to SVEFoundation.org/donor_resources/default.asp to review the SJEF “Ten Tips on Giving" before making a donation
The KBAY Teacher of the Month program is a partnership between 94.5 KBAY FM and the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, the leading education foundation serving students, families and teachers of San Jose.
Inspiring Tomorrow’s Innovators
Like you, we at KBAY believe that teachers have a tremendous impact on our children’s lives, so we created the KBAY Teacher of the Month program with the Silicon Valley Education Foundation to honor Silicon Valley teachers who are making a difference by creating memorable, interactive and enhanced learning experiences for their students.
If you know a teacher who uses innovative ideas in their classroom, you can nominate them for KBAY’s Teacher of Month! SVEF offers $500 Innovation Grants to teachers who create memorable, interactive and enhanced learning experiences for their students. SVEF will send them the Innovation Grant application and they might even be selected to be the next KBAY Teacher of the Month. Click here to nominate a teacher.
About the Silicon Valley Education Foundation
The Silicon Valley Education Foundation seeks to inspire tomorrow’s innovators. With a clear focus achieving results and emphasizing creativity and innovation in education, SVEF brings a Silicon Valley business approach to improving education.
We are the only organization dedicated solely to improving pre-kindergarten to 12th grade public education in Silicon Valley, with a goal of bringing resources and expertise to the 34 separate school district of Santa Clara County to benefit our schools.
At SVEF, we focus on results. We work to:
• Be a voice for Silicon Valley schools.
• Invest in our teachers.
• Connect Silicon Valley Businesses to Silicon Valley Schools. Prepare Silicon Valley students for Silicon Valley jobs.
• Advocate for arts education and special education services.
Our continued success relies upon the generosity of our donors and partners. To find out more about how you can invest in SVEF to improve Silicon Valley schools, visit us online at SVEFoundation.org.
