2022 Harriett Ball Excellence in Teaching Award Winners
Jamar Brownlee
Jamar Brownlee
4th Grade Lead TeacherKIPP West Philadelphia Elementary Academy | Philadelphia, PA
Mr. Brownlee does it all. He’s planned field trips, field lessons, and partnered with families while demanding excellence from his students. As a fourth-grade homeroom teacher, 20 out of his 26 students met or exceeded their growth targets in mathematics. His work extends outside the classroom. He finds time to attend football games and dance recitals, and provides instruction to those who need it with Zoom and Facetime calls. Furthermore, Mr. Brownlee helps students advocate for themselves through honest conversations about historical and current events.
“It is truly remarkable to walk into the space that Mr. Brownlee is teaching. Engagement is through the roof always. Rigorous content is being discussed and worked on by kids daily. There is a true culture of learning where he constantly pushes kids to show how brilliant they are.” —Sean Tucker, KIPP Philadelphia School Leader
Matthew Greenberg
Matthew Greenberg
Founding 1st Grade TeacherKIPP Star Harlem College Prep Elementary School | NYC, NY
Mr. Greenberg believes the best way for students to learn is to empower them. Students in his class don’t depend solely on him for instruction. Rather than creating an environment where learners are dependent on their teacher for all of the answers, Matthew reminds them of their successes and their ability to “do hard things.” When students have shown their best effort, he places them with a partner so that they can teach each other. It’s why, year after year, >75% of his students met or exceeded reading and math benchmarks before the pandemic. His classes run like a well-oiled machine, allowing him to give daily, individualized feedback.
“Matthew would say there is nothing special about his teaching. I would say he is right because everything about his teaching is special! It is amazing!”—Brandi Vardiman, KIPP NYC Founding School Leader
José Hernández
José Hernández
AP & IB Spanish (11th & 12th grades) TeacherKIPP University Prep High School | San Antonio, TX
Mr. Hernández is one of the most successful teachers in UPrep history. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, 100% of his students passed the school’s Higher Level IB Spanish B course. He aided in founding the Hispanic National Honor Society and taught every level of Spanish at KIPP University Prep for the past ten years. Mr. Hernández creates a relationship with students by allowing them to share cultural experiences and learn from one another. His classrooms are structured based on his deep knowledge of students’ strengths and weaknesses, encouraging them to support each other.
“José shares multiple identity markers with our student body which students said made them feel more comfortable and connected to him as their teacher. He centers on historically marginalized voices while considering cultural connections and differences when planning lessons with other colleagues.”—Abby Morton-Garland, KIPP University Prep School Leader
Elmer Merlos
Elmer Merlos
7th Grade Social Studies TeacherKIPP Summit Academy, San Lorenzo, CA
Mr. Merlos is a 15-year vet of the KIPP Summit team. Since 2014, his 7th graders have met or exceeded goals on the ELA portion of the SBAC test. Mr. Merlos won “Teacher of the Year” award in 2019 for his dedication to students and being of assistance to anyone who needed him. Mr. Merlos is dedicated to teaching his students about their history and allowing students to not only feel engaged but to be empowered. His unit on the Americas helps students who are often first-generation Latinx a chance to explore their personal history while in school. He does this intentionally for students because he recognizes that as an immigrant from El Salvador and a first-generation college student, he did not often get the chance to learn his history. He has a steady stream of current and former students visiting his classroom to share the good news about their lives.
“It’s his deep community roots that allow him to help them find their own path to justice. He has numerous students that are now employees of social justice organizations throughout the Bay, fighting for immigration, education, and workers’ rights. He knows this because he still keeps in touch with so many of them.” —Megan Roberto, KIPP Summit Academy School Leader
Shamara Moore
Shamara Moore
9th Grade English TeacherKIPP KC Legacy High School | Kansas City, MO
Ms. Moore is a multifaceted educator dedicating her energy to student excellence and social justice at KIPP KC Legacy High School. During the 2017-2018 school year, Ms. Moore co-taught 5th-grade science. More than half of her students landed in the top two quartiles. Last year, she taught a dual-credit course called “What’s Race Got to Do With It?” in collaboration with the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Ms. Moore is best known for building excellent relationships with students and families, faculty, and staff. Last spring, every night at 8pm she would come back to school and pick up a student and drop her off at home to help her family who had to work so she could be part of the Track and Field team. After doing virtual instruction over Zoom, she rode the school buses several times a week, passing out meals to KIPP families. These are some of a million examples of how Ms. Moore shows up for her students.
“Ms. Moore is deeply committed to achieving results with her students, both in achievement and continual growth. She expects her students to grow as scholars and people, and for herself to grow as an educator as well.” —Josh Swartzlander, KIPP KC Legacy High School Leader
Shelby Powers
Shelby Powers
9th Grade Algebra 1 & Algebraic Reasoning TeacherKIPP East End High School | Houston, TX
Ms. Powers’ leadership and teaching style have received perfect marks from her co-workers and a nearly perfect score from her students. Her math students began the year struggling but ended the year with the highest Algebra 1 state score of any KIPP Texas school, thanks to her tutelage. Outside the classroom, Ms. Powers sponsors the Woods Projects, a program that teaches students survival skills both in life and in the woods, such as starting a fire, putting up a tent, fishing techniques, and overall survival techniques. Last year, Houston experienced a severe winter storm that caused millions to lose power, but despite not having power herself, she was the first teacher to check in with the rest of the team and respond to any of her students’ needs. One particular student’s family was out of food, and without hesitation, she delivered them food and provided the necessary resources to survive the terrible winter storm. The constant evidence of Ms. Powers’ selflessness and love for our students is just incredible and heartfelt.
“Ms. Powers builds strong relationships with students and families, and can connect with them in an especially poignant way. She’s a constant source of support to KIPPsters.” —Olvin Carias, KIPP Texas Public Schools – Houston School Leader
Martina Ramos
Martina Ramos
8th Grade Reading TeacherKIPP Aspire Academy | San Antonio, TX
As a San Antonio native, Ms. Ramos fully understands the educational rigors needed to ensure student success. For the last 11 years as a KIPP teacher, she has focused on the “whole” child to help students achieve greatness. Mr. Ramos strives to exemplify social and emotional learning in the classroom by teaching self-management skills, relationship building, and self-awareness. In her classroom, all students are engaged, pushed to do better, and supported in various ways that reflect their learning styles. In addition, she’s always willing to help or model any skills she assigns to teachers she coaches. Ms. Ramos is also a proud KIPP Parent, her daughter Ebony will graduate with the University Prep class of 2022 in May and her son will be graduating in 2025 as the first founding K-12 class of 2025.
“From the moment you walk into Ms. Ramos’ classroom, you can distinguish her inclusive environment by cultural and identity affirming representation in books, content, and language. Ms. Ramos works endlessly to value her students’ opinions, ideas, and thoughts by providing opportunities and space for them to advocate and use their voices.” —Jaime Jaen, KIPP Texas Public Schools – San Antonio School Leader
Megan Schenauer
Megan Schenauer
8th Grade English TeacherKIPP BOLD Academy | Newark, NJ
Since 2018, Ms. Schenauer’s Megan’s students have consistently outperformed the district and the state on several assessments. Eighty percent of her students are proficient in the PARCC assessment, the highest across KIPP New Jersey. She’s an outside-the-box thinker who isn’t afraid to use unique ideas to reach her students, from dressing up to bringing props. She does chants and cheers because she knows 8th graders still love them. Every year, she asks for the most challenging students, then works with their families to create a plan for their educational breakthrough.
“Everyone wants to be in Megan’s class because she’s known for having a loving, safe environment where everyone achieves. She gives students opportunities to try group work, even in a post-COVID world, and wants everyone to have fun.” —Lisa Bonnifield, KIPP New Jersey School Leader
LaDerrick Williams
LaDerrick Williams
6th Grade Science TeacherKIPP Memphis Collegiate Middle | Memphis, TN
Mr. Williams spends as much time as possible with his students at KIPP Memphis Collegiate Middle. He stays late at school on most days, including working on weekends to plan and prepare for the week. He works with students at lunch, and before and after school, providing a listening ear for whoever needs it. Mr. Williams’ accommodation of learning styles for his special education students led to them meeting goals and exceeding growth measures, a likely byproduct of missing zero workdays in the 2021-22 school year and only three missed days over the past five years.
“When observing his class at any time of the day during the week, all of his students are fully engaged with the lesson. He makes the information accessible to all students and leaves them with smiles on their faces. Students love learning from him.” —Natasha Smith, KIPP Memphis School Leader
Social Justice and Equity Teaching Resources
When it comes to teaching for social justice, it’s not simply teaching about social justice movements of the past. It’s about using your instruction to help students understand and leverage their own power for social change.
Click into each of the categories below to view resources.
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Lessons & Activities
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Current events
Current events
Teachable Moments Current Issues Lessons | Grades: K-12 Teachable Moment, a project of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, fosters social responsibility by sharing classroom lessons, activities, and ideas with educators.
The Lowdown: Connecting Newsroom to Classroom | Grades: K-12 KQED offers lesson plans, videos, maps, infographics, and more to help teachers bring the current events into their classroom.
Newsela | Grades: 2-12 Newsela provides teachers, parents, and students with over 1,000 current event articles scaled at five different Lexile reading comprehension levels.
Listenwise: Current Events Podcasts for the Classroom | Grades: 5-12 Listenwise’s collection of podcasts and public radio keeps teaching connected to the real world and builds student listening skills at the same time
CNN 10 (Formerly CNN Student News)| Grades: 6-12 CNN 10 s is a ten-minute, commercial-free, daily news program designed for middle and high school classes.
New York Times The Learning Network: Current Events | Grades: 6-12 NYT Learning Network’s spotlight on articles, activities, and questions you can use to bring current events into your classroom.
Teaching the News (Economic Lessons) Newsela | Grades: 9-12 The Council for Economic Education provides resources to put economic lessons in real-life perspective and help educate your students on how to critically engage with current events.
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Race
Race
Teaching Tolerance: Race and Ethnicity | Grades: K-12 Access more than 80 classroom lessons and activities on the topics of race and ethnicity from Teaching Tolerance.
ADL Lesson Plans: Race & Racism | Grades: K-12 The Anti-Defamation League features lesson plans and activities for elementary, middle, and high school students on topics relating to racism and bias.
Five Minute Film Festival on Race & Stereotypes | Grades: K-12 A collection of film clips (compiled by Edutopia) to start conversations about race and stereotypes.
Teaching for Change | Grades: K-12 A collection of social justice teaching resources, including recommended articles, readings, and films on topics like anti-bias education, Civil Rights, music, and Haiti.
Zinn Education Project | Grades: K-12 Drawn from A People’s History of the United States, this site offers a collection of history lessons and materials searchable by theme, time period, and grade. Themes include lessons relating to African-American, Asian-American, Latino, and Native American experiences.
Partners Against Hate | Grades: 6-8 Middle school lessons on building community and combating hate.
Black Lives Matter at School | Grades K-12 A resource guide of downloadable lessons to challenge racism, oppression and build a healthy classroom.
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Sexuality & Gender
Sexuality & Gender
Sexuality & Gender
GLSEN: LGBT-Inclusive Curriculum | Grades: K-12 This curriculum is designed to help teachers ensure LGBT students see themselves reflected in lessons and encourage respectful behavior and critical thinking.Teaching Tolerance: Gender Expression | Grades: K-12 Access lesson plans and activities on gender expression from Teaching Tolerance.
Teaching Tolerance: Sexual Orientation | Grades: K-12 Access lesson plans and activities on sexual orientation from Teaching Tolerance.
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Immigration
Immigration
Immigration
Teaching Tolerance: Immigration | Grades: K-12 Teaching Tolerance offers lesson plans and activities on immigration for students.Facing History: Global Immigration | Grades: K-12 Issues of identity and belonging are inseparable from the experience of immigration. This collection of classroom resources includes stories of immigrants, past and present, illuminating the human lives behind the ever-shifting global landscape we inhabit today.
PBS LearningMedia: Immigration | Grades: K-12 PBS LearningMedia offers teachers more than 100,000 videos, images, interactives, lesson plans, and articles drawn from critically acclaimed PBS programs such as Nova, Frontline, American Experience, and Sid the Science Kid and from expert content contributors like The National Archives and NASA.
Scholastic Resources: Immigration | Grades: K-12 Browse more than 350 lesson plans and resources, divided by grade level, teachers can use to engage students on the topic of immigration.
Coming to America: Immigration Builds a Nation | Grades: K-12 This list of resources, compiled by Education World is designed to introduce students to the two major waves of immigration that brought 34 million people to US shores.
Library of Congress’s Lesson Plans on Immigration | Grades: 3-12 The Library of Congress presents a series of lesson plans, created by teachers for teachers, to explore immigration.
PBS’s The New Americans Lesson Plans | Grades: 7-12 Lesson plans aligned with national academic performance standards, give students hands-on opportunities to grasp the essence of immigration to the United States, from analyzing factual data to conducting oral histories of first or second-generation immigrants.
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Poverty
Poverty
United Nations Global Goals: No Poverty | Grades: K-12 Access lesson plans, posters, and other resources aligned with the UN Global Goal of ‘No Poverty.’
Center Stage: Focus on Poverty | Grades: 6-8 Students will be engaged in reflections of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination related to socio-economic status. From a cognitive and affective perspective, students will be involved with activities to assist them in developing sensitivity to working in direct service projects with individuals who are impoverished or disadvantaged in their socio-economic standing.
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Ability
Ability
Friends Who Care: Disability Awareness Curriculum | Grades: K-6 This educational program gives students the opportunity to learn what is involved when someone has a disability and how they adapt to live life, go to school, or work as independently as possible.
Teaching Tolerance: Understanding Disabilities | Grades: K-12 Access this collection of lesson plans and activities compiled by Teaching Tolerance to help integrate disability awareness into your classroom.
Student’s Corner: Organization for Autism Research | Grades: K-12 Access stories, videos, and volunteering ideas related to students on the autism spectrum.
Disability Awareness Activity Packet | Grades: K-12 This booklet gives educators some ideas for helping students in the classroom understand different types of disabilities.
Disability History Posters [Smithsonian] | Grades: K-12 Download free posters in English and Spanish relating to the Smithsonian exhibit “EveryBody: An Artifact History of Disability in America.”
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Current events
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Teacher Development
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Current events
Current events
Why Teach Current Events?: Research indicates that a regular dose of current events has a multitude of benefits! This Education World resource includes activity ideas and Internet resources for teaching current events.
Three Tips for Current-Event Lesson Plans: Lesson planning can feel overwhelming, but gaining the ability to quickly assess a current event and its relation to social justice and your classroom is worth it.
50 Ways to Teach with Current Events: The New York Times presents 50 ideas to help teachers bring current events into the classroom, grouped by category.
Five Tips for Teaching Current Events to Younger Students: Talking with children about current events is important because it provides a way to build compassion and critical thinking and, at the same time, address their most important questions.
Difficult Dialogues: This guide, from Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching, seeks to help teachers feel more confident leading difficult dialogues by encouraging reflection on how such discussions connect with larger learning goals, and by providing specific strategies and resources that teachers can use to create more productive conversations in their classrooms.
The Trump Effect: The Impact of the Presidential Campaign on Our Nation’s Schools: Ninety percent of educators report that school climate has been negatively affected by the 2016 election, and most of them believe it will have a long-lasting impact.
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Race
Race
Understanding Prejudice: Tips for Elementary School Teachers: This page contains tips on how to create a diverse, multicultural, and inclusive class environment, with specific suggestions on how to teach about prejudice and how to handle students who display discriminatory behavior.
DIY Toolkit: How Teens Want You to Teach #BlackLivesMatter: Learn how educators can facilitate a productive conversation about race, police, and violence, grounded in a collection of stories created by Youth Radio’s reporters and commentators.
Black Students’ Lives Matter: Building the School-to-Justice Pipeline: The Black Lives Matter movement inspires us to fight the school-to-grave pipeline as an example of structural racism, after decades in which anti-racism has been defined in excessively personal terms through anti-bias or diversity training.
Connecting to Teach Social Justice and #BlackLivesMatter: Educators have always helped young people understand and make meaning of current events. Digital tools give today’s youth the chance to talk back in a new way—at a new volume and magnitude that’s already making history.
Easy Ways to Have Tough Talks with Kids about Race: While we may think that we’re protecting kids by not talking to them about race, silence actually does more harm than good. Here’s what one expert says about how to meaningfully talk to kids about racial justice.
Raising Race Conscious Children: Use these conversations to dismantle the color-blind framework and prepare young people to work toward racial justice. Many of the blog posts are geared toward white people but a community of guest bloggers represents diverse backgrounds, and the strategies discussed may be helpful for all.
Talking about Race: This website provides content and resources to better understand racial inequity. By equipping teachers with the context and methods necessary to help students be more racially conscious.
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Sexuality & Gender
Sexuality & Gender
Best Practices: Creating an LGBT-Inclusive School Climate: Studies have shown that creating a supportive environment for LGBT students improves educational outcomes for all students, not just those who may identify as LGBT.
Trevor Project: Lifeguard Workshop: This workshop video helps educators assist young people in identifying the challenges faced by LGBTQ people, recognize the warning signs of suicide, and respond to someone who may be in crisis.
Some Considerations When Working with LGBT Students of Color: When working with LGBT students of color1, there are a number of additional concerns that should be taken into consideration. It is crucial to see students through a holistic lens, one that recognizes and tries to understand the complex identities and experiences that shape each individual.
The Educator’s Guide to LGBT Pride: Every year, in the month of June the LGBT community celebrates Pride Month. While including positive representations of LGBT history and people in the curriculum is most effective when it is regular practice, June provides an opportunity to connect topics with current events and celebrations.
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Immigration
Immigration
Post-Election: What Educators Can Do to Support Undocumented Students: This guide from E4FC provides concrete examples of actions you can take—on an institutional level, alongside students, and as an individual—to protect undocumented students, increase support services, and ensure college access and graduation.
Resources 101: Important Info for Immigrants & Allies: Whether you are an immigrant or an ally, stay informed and find crucial and carefully curated information collected by Informed Immigrant. (Choose “Information for Educators and Schools.”)
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Poverty
Poverty
How Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement: ASCD identifies even differences between middle-class and low-income students show up at school. By understanding those differences and how to address them, teachers can help mitigate some of the negative effects of poverty.
Overcoming the Challenges of Poverty: ASCD shares a list of 15 things educators can do to make our schools and classrooms places where students thrive.
Educating Students Who Live In Poverty: Review the different meanings of poverty, five research-based theories on helping people move out of poverty, and the correlating best practices for educating students and connecting with families.
Building a Pedagogy of Engagement for Students in Poverty: Paul Gorski addresses how educators can still take many research-proven steps to foster equality of opportunity in education.
Children of Poverty Deserve Great Teachers: In this report, the NEA recommends policy actions for attracting and retaining accomplished teachers that can make a difference in the teaching and learning experience in high-needs schools.
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Ability
Ability
Creating Positive School Experiences for Students with Disabilities: This article provides an overview of factors to consider in creating positive school experiences for students with disabilities and suggestions for intervention efforts.
The General Ed Teacher’s Guide to the Inclusive Classroom: This guide contains advice and resources on helping students meet their goals and reach students with diverse abilities and skill bases.
Teacher’s Corner: Organization for Autism Research: Access collections of resources dedicated to learning more about autism and supporting students on the spectrum in your classroom.
Special Education Subject Center: Here, you will find information and tools, from Education World and other valuable sources, chosen specifically for the special education community.
10 Questions About Why Ableist Language Matters, Answered: Learn why ableist speech matters and the top questions people have about incorporating it into their daily lives.
10 Tips for Teaching About Invisible Disabilities and Bullying: Teachers can play a critical role in bullying prevention by encouraging a culture of acceptance through discussion and classroom activities.
What Are Classrooms Like for Students with Learning Disabilities?: Classrooms can be perilous in a number of ways for students with learning disabilities. Here are some tips to remember when working with students with learning disabilities.
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Current events
Diversity at KIPP
We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization. Our strength and resolve, our health as a team and family, our productivity and effectiveness, and the quality of the decisions we make — all are rooted in our diversity. So we strive to create an environment in which every member of our team can bring his or her full identity and experience to the work.