[Video Playlist] 6 Inspirational Teachers to Motivate you in 2016

December 31, 2015

As the New Year approaches, we pay tribute to these educators who have fought for equal education, made learning fun, and transformed their classrooms, entire schools and their communities.

Watch below or view the playlist on YouTube.

1. Sadie Guthrie – This Special Ed Teacher’s Real World Lesson will Inspire you
   Using a mobile coffee cart, Sadie Guthrie, a special education teacher at Lawton Alternative School in San Francisco, teaches her students real-world skills. From riding public transportation to pick up fresh-baked goods to pouring a cup of coffee for the school principal, Sadie’s students build confidence and life skills, and teach their entire community compassion along the way.
2. Linda Cliatt-Wayman – Preparing the Next Generation
   “For kids that live in poverty, school is the only normal they know.” Linda Cliatt-Wayman is a veteran special education teacher working in low-performing, impoverished Philadelphia schools. As a principal, she has transformed three low-performing schools, dramatically improving test scores and attendance rates. In this captivating video, she describes how she is fearlessly leading her students to fight for their future.
3. Sakena Yacoobi – How I Stopped the Taliban from Shutting Down my Schools
   In this TED Talk, Sakena Yacoobi shares how she secretly set up schools to educate thousands of women and men when the Taliban closed all the girls’ schools in Afghanistan. Heroic and sometimes funny, this story shows how one woman’s perseverance made it possible to learn.
4. Shanna Peeples – The 2015 National Teacher of the Year on the Importance of Teachers
   Shanna Peeples teaches at Palo Duro High School in Amarillo, Texas. As one of several cities in the U.S. that helps refugees find new paths in life, many of Shanna’s students speak English as a second language and are survivors of deep and debilitating trauma. As the 2015 National Teacher of the Year, Shanna is shaping the conversation about teaching students in poverty, and those who have faced extreme challenges in their young lives. In this video, produced by the U.S. Department of Education, Shanna lifts up the importance of teaching and offers encouragement.
5. Chris Emdin – #HipHopEd Transforms Science Education This video tells the story of Dr. Chris Emdin, a science teacher in the Bronx and professor at the Columbia Teachers College, who meets his “students on their own cultural turf” by using Hip Hop to help his students see science in a different way. The founder of the #HipHopEd movement, Chris is committed to helping teachers connect science and math education with students’ real-world interests.
6. Nancy Davis – The Pirate Teacher: How Skin Cancer and Eye Surgery Helped one Teacher Embrace Play in Her Classroom
   When this teacher had to wear an eye patch to cover up an operation for skin cancer on her eyelid, she turned it into an opportunity to bring play into her classroom.