Excellence in Teaching
Award-Winning Teachers
Teachers at all three Cluster campuses—Peabody Early Childhood Center and School-Within-School (SWS), Watkins Elementary, and Stuart-Hobson Middle School—consistently and regularly earn recognition for their great classroom skills. We congratulate the teachers listed here on their success!
Peabody
Jere Lorenzen-Strait of the School-Within-School was one of 20 DC teachers to receive DCPS’s own Rubenstein Award for Highly Effective Teaching. Mr. Lorenzen-Strait was also named DCPS’s New Teacher of the Year.
Watkins
First-grade teacher Lauren Tate received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Science. The annual prize goes to outstanding K-12 science and mathematics teachers from across the country.
Third-grade teacher Lisa Jones is featured in a blog by US Department of Education Teacher Liaison Laurie Calvert:
Read Lisa Jones Grows Her Own at Watkins Elementary>>>
Several Watkins teachers have undergone the rigorous process, involving intensive study, examinations evaluation, and peer review, to become National Board Certified Teachers: Judy Bowers (1st grade), Kendra Heffelbower (2nd grade), Kristina Kellogg (3rd grade), and Amy Wertheimer (3rd grade). The Washington Post called the certification “the gold standard of teacher credentials.”
Stuart-Hobson
History teacher Amy Trenkle was one of 20 teachers citywide to receive DCPS’s Rubenstein Award for Highly Effective Teaching. In 2011, Ms. Trenkle was also named the Mount Vernon History Teacher of the Year and the Patricia Behring D.C. National History Day Teacher of the Year.
Science teacher Anthonette Peña was honored earlier this year as NASA DC Space Grant Consortium Outstanding STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Teacher. Ms. Peña also knows what it feels like in outer space! Check out this WUSA 9 Cool Schools segment that features Ms. Peña.
Ms. Trenkle, Ms. Peña, and their colleague Victoria Pearson have also undergone the demanding but rewarding process of becoming National Board Certified Teachers, a prestigious title held only by about 3% of teachers nationwide.
Dedicated Teachers
Whether teaching, tutoring, or volunteering at fundraisers, our teachers show extraordinary commitment. Perhaps the clearest sign of how they value the school is the number who send their own children to the school: About 25 current teachers have sent or are sending their children to the Cluster.
Peabody librarian Sue Bloom sent her children to the Cluster. Bloom recalls, “The Cluster was recommended to us by close friends, and once we started, we knew that we were in the right place. It’s been an amazing community of both committed professionals and committed parents and while, there are always growing pains, we loved the years our two kids were in the Cluster School.”
Asked about her experience as a Cluster teacher and parent, Rachel Houghton said: “Daniel’s three years at Peabody were what every needy mother dreams of. He received a top-notch education from dynamic, skilled teachers while I was right next door making sure that he ate his sandwich before his chips and played nicely on the playground! I was able to dash over to his room to see his Black History presentation or attend his Thanksgiving Feast and then run right back to work without having to take a day of leave.”
As a teacher, Houghton especially enjoyed the insight she had while working with children the same age as her son: “For two of those years, Daniel was in the grade level I taught. I felt an extra special connection with my students those years, as they were his peers and at his same developmental level. I was able to relate to them so well, from knowing the coolest toys and TV shows to feeling the thrill as they learned to solve problems and read and write new words right alongside Daniel.”