Dallas ISD Honors Teachers Of The Year
This year, one teacher from the elementary and secondary categories and an elementary and secondary teacher from the magnet/special schools category were selected to receive the top award at a special event honoring them on Thursday, Oct. 22.
Tara Broadus at JosephJ.RhoadsLearningCenter received the award in the elementary category and Rachel Harrah, from ThomasJeffersonHigh School won for secondary.
Michael Ruiz at William B. Travis Vanguard/Academy for the Academically Talented and Gifted received the elementary magnet/special schools nod, while Dana Clark from Irma Rangel Young Women’s LeadershipAcademy won in the secondary category.
All 12 finalists for 2015 Dallas ISD Teacher of the Year were distinguished teachers as measured by the Teacher Excellence Initiative. There were four finalists in the elementary school category, four in the secondary category and four in the category for magnet and special schools.
About the winners
Tara Broadus has taught prekindergarten at JosephJ.RhoadsLearningCenter for 11 years. A doctoral candidate and self-described lifelong learner, she sees ongoing learning as a powerful instructional tool.
“Lifelong learning is a staple in how I work to improve classroom effectiveness,” Broadus said. “I have remained in school since 1999 and continue to obtain professional development hours during the summer related to my grade level. I believe that there is always something to learn, some takeaway, that I have not tried that can be the difference maker in how I instruct my students.”
Rachel Harrah has 16 years of teaching experience, the last three as Theater Arts teacher at ThomasJeffersonHigh School, where she develops and presents seminars for colleagues and at instructional leadership conferences across Dallas ISD.
Thomas Jefferson Principal Sandi Massey credits Harrah with building one of the best theater programs in the district.
In the last four years, she has received over 20 grants for her classroom from DallasTheaterCenter, AT&TPerformingArtsCenter, Junior League of Dallas, Dallas Summer Musicals, Shakespeare Dallas, and New YorkUniversity.
Dana Clark has taught science at Irma Rangel Young Women’s LeadershipSchool since 2004. During that time, she has fired the imaginations of her students and others around the country as she blogged from such far-flung locations as Mount Kilimanjaro as part of an international team studying climate change, and from Alaska as a member of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientific delegation mapping the Alaskan seafloor.
Clark says such experiences are meant to excite her students about the study of science.
Student Josie Ibarra says being in Clark’s class is a life-changing experience.
Michael Ruiz is a fourth-grade science teacher at William B. Travis Academy/Vanguard for the Academically Talented and Gifted, where he mentors younger teachers, designs and presents professional development for teachers of gifted students, and coordinates the school’s coding club. Ruiz also blogs about education and technology and develops bilingual teaching curriculum for multiple subjects.
Regarding his teaching philosophy, Ruiz says he promotes student buy-in in his classroom by creating projects that require students to work as a team alongside their teacher.
At the event, WFAA-Channel 8 news anchor Cynthia Izaguirre served as master of ceremonies. Student groups participating included the Elite Quintet from W.E.GreinerExploratoryArtsAcademy; the JROTC from TownviewCenter; the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy Jazz Band; and W.T.WhiteHigh School’s Vocal Dimensions choir.
Dallas ISD also congratulates the eight other Teacher of the Year finalists:
Elementary
- Evelyn Gallegos – W.A.BlairElementary School
- Monica Battison – T.G.TerryElementary School
- Rafael Mercado – Urban ParkElementary School
Secondary
- Elizabeth Pittman – H. Grady SpruceHigh School
- Aparna Sankararaman – WoodrowWilsonHigh School
- Angela Adams – SarahZumwaltMiddle School
Magnet/Special
- William Adkins – BarackObamaMaleLeadershipAcademy
- Nancy Shotts – W.E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy
