Receiving the Presidential Award is an incredible honor. It highlights the support and encouragement from my mentors and the exceptional professional development opportunities in which I have been allowed to participate. It feels amazing to have my dedication, hard work, and caring be recognized and celebrated, for these have helped me develop into the educator I am today. Thank you to everyone who has influenced and helped shape my teaching, especially my students who challenge and inspire me.

Shianne Schmidt Whitefish, MT | K-6, Mathematics, 2020

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

Shianne Schmidt has been an elementary educator for the last nine years and has spent the last four years teaching third and fourth grade at Olney Bissell School. She previously taught a combination of third and fourth graders at Reedpoint Elementary School and spent her first year of teaching at Koliganek Public School in Alaska. Shianne teaches all subject areas in her classroom, with mathematics being her favorite to teach and her area of expertise. She shares her strengths by leading monthly schoolwide mathematics collaborations and mentoring classroom teachers. Expressing a love of mathematics and developing engaging activities that motivate children are Shianne's distinguishing traits. She excites children in mathematical learning with classroom transformations and project-based learning tasks. Some of the students’ favorites have been creating your own food truck, rollercoaster mathematics, and a cross curricular unit that studies the Iditarod. In the classroom, Shianne utilizes a workshop model that allows students to work at their level and instruction to be tailored to individuals’ needs, so that all learners can be successful. Shianne earned a B.S. in elementary education from Montana State University. She is a certified elementary school teacher and is certified in elementary (kindergarten through eighth grade) curriculum.

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