Receiving the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching is humbling, rewarding, and affirming. I feel honored to be recognized with other amazing educators who simply love what they do and are determined to make learning fun, meaningful, and relevant. This award recognizes the hard work of our students, parents/guardians, colleagues, and our families and friends that support and invest in our profession and encourage and challenge us to be excellent in all that we do.

Michelle De Guzman Dededo, GU | K-6, Science, 2020

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Michelle De Guzman has taught with the Guam Department of Education (GDOE) for 12 years. Currently, Michelle is an Instructional Coach with GDOE. She is also the literacy kindergarten teacher with PBS Guam, providing educational videos to be broadcasted on Guam's local television network and PBS Guam's online media platforms. Prior to that, she taught kindergarten at Liguan Elementary School, first grade at Juan M. Guerrero Elementary School for five years, where she was nominated for the PAEMST award, and kindergarten at Upi Elementary School for seven years. Michelle is a STEM/NGSS teacher representative and served in her school leadership team in curriculum and instruction and as a grade level chairperson. Michelle participated as a project member for the GDOE Technology Standards and Enhancing Education through Technology. She has been a part of the standards-based grading cadre, family and community engagement committees, and has assisted in coordinating school level science fairs to showcase student projects. This past spring, Michelle was one of the six finalists for Guam Teacher of the Year. She was a two-time recipient of the Teacher Wish List Grant for the purchase of flexible seating and leveled readers library for her students. In 2019, Michelle received the Superhero Award presented by the GDOE Superintendent and Guam Education Board Chairman. In 2015, she received the Sylvan's Favorite Teacher Award. Michelle has a B.A. in elementary education from the University of Guam and graduated with distinction at Liberty University with an M.Ed. in teaching and learning in 2013. She is certified as a kindergarten through fifth grade elementary Master Educator and has a professional endorsement in music for grades 6-12.

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