Teaching talent:
One winner reflects on mentor who got her there
The Arizona Republic, in partnership with the Rodel Foundation of Arizona, announces the seven Valley winners of the 2014 Rodel Exemplary Teacher Award.
Marriam Motamedi and student teacher Tiffany Thompson knew almost instantly that they were a great match when the Rodel Foundation of Arizona mentoring program paired them six years ago. They share a passion for helping children from low-income homes learn to love school, books and learning.
“There was such a connection,” said Motamedi, 56, who at the time was a Rodel Exemplary Teacher and taught fourth grade at Mesa Public Schools’ Lindbergh Elementary.
“I immediately loved her. We both look at students the same way — as a whole individual who has a life outside of school.”
Thompson, who is now 30 and has her own classroom of fifth-graders at Mesa’s Whitman Elementary School, said she thinks back to things she learned from Motamedi nearly every day.
“One lesson I learned from my mentor that I still use today is to build a relationship with my students,” Thompson said. “They are human beings and deserve to be cared about and respected. They have lives outside of school, just like we do, and we may never fully understand what they are going through outside the walls of school.”
This year, Thompson has won the Rodel Exemplary Teacher Award herself and will now mentor Rodel Promising Student Teachers like Motamedi mentored her.
“I am thrilled,” Motamedi said. “I have been waiting for her to be discovered” by Rodel.
Today, The Arizona Republic, in partnership with the Rodel Foundation of Arizona, announces the seven Valley winners
of the 2014 Rodel Exemplary Teacher Award. In all, 11 teachers statewide won the title.
The Rodel Foundation, based in Scottsdale, annually selects outstanding teachers to mentor new ones. Winners receive $5,000 and, for the next three years, agree to mentor Arizona’s future educators.
During the last decade, the Rodel award has become one of the top honors a teacher can earn in Arizona. And those who win gain more than just a line on their resumes. They also enter a support network of teachers with cutting-edge skills that boost student achievement at schools with high poverty rates.
“The heart and soul of Rodel is in mentorship,” Rodel Chief Operating Officer Howard Paley told 22 finalists for the exemplary teacher award at a reception earlier this month.
He encouraged the finalists to think about the mentors they have had — inside and outside of Rodel — and then to look around the room and consider the ripple effect of the relationships.
“This is your network,” he said.
“The student teacher you mentor is going to go out and teach 30 more students (after graduation) so you have double the impact. Your own mentors live on in the classroom. They are influencing students they have never met.”
Christopher Clark, a research professor at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, has studied teacher training and evaluation for 35 years. He said while new teachers can learn skills from principals and education college professors, a key to mastering the art of teaching is having a mentor teacher.
“Becoming a teacher is more complicated than it looks,” he said. “Becoming a teacher also involves becoming a member of a new culture. A more experienced mentor, who is already an insider in the culture of teaching, can serve as a very helpful guide. A more experienced mentor can provide real-time confidential support that can make all the difference in a new teacher’s and their students’ success.”
Clark also noted that being a