Tamara Thornell
2003 California Teacher of the Year
Ms. Thornell has been teaching bilingual first and second grade students for nine years. She currently teaches bilingual second grade students at Norman R. Brekke Elementary School in Ventura, California.

What are your beliefs about teaching?
"As a second grade bilingual teacher, my role is to ensure my students are achieving success in every situation, mastering academic standards and enhancing social interactions. My philosophy includes the realization that all learners can succeed if content is differentiated to appropriately meet their individual needs. I believe that all students can succeed and my role is to facilitate and model lifelong learning."

How are your beliefs incorporated in your teaching style?
"I am a firm believer that all students can succeed. They can all meet or exceed the high expectations that the teacher sets for them. They succeed by having self-confidence, mastering academic standards and most importantly, loving to learn. It is my job to individualize learning in order to make it meaningful, pertinent and personal to each child. All students learn differently and have different interests. In my classroom, the students actively participate in hands on learning activities that capture their interest and engage them in asking questions to further their learning."

What is your greatest teaching accomplishment?
"Lee Canter and Associates created a video course for an online Masters program entitled Exploring New Technologies: The Impact on Society, Work and Education. My students and I were asked to be part of this video. The filming crew took over our classroom one day to film my second grade bilingual students. The students integrated technology into the Math and Language Arts curriculum, thought critically in an Information Technology lesson and created their last slide for their electronic portfolios. They also filmed me giving standards-based lessons and explaining how technology engages all of the different learners, each at his own level, meeting or exceeding the academic standards. I felt that on that day, my students and I contributed much education by modeling how future teachers can integrate technology into their curriculums."

What's the most critical issue facing educators?
"The issue of teacher retention becomes increasingly important as the demand for teachers grows. The increasing number of teachers leaving the profession further exacerbates this problem."

What do you think can be done to solve this issue?
"Collaboration. Teachers working together in small groups on a regular basis could support each other. During this team time, teachers would share issues such as reviewing textbooks and educational guidelines. This team time would also provide an opportunity for teachers to share, discuss and troubleshoot specific issues they are facing in the classroom. By working together, we would not only be applying our best collective efforts to teach our students but we would also be applying our compassion to each other’s hardships."

One thought to inspire teachers to excel
"Make learning fun. The teacher and the students should all be having fun while learning is taking place."

One lesson every student should learn
"You can do it!"

Favorite Teaching Tool:
"Manipulative’s and technology"

Favorite Web site:
www.abcteach.com – ABC Teach
www.discovery.com – Discovery Channel