It is truly an honor to be nominated for the Presidential Award. I strive every day to challenge my students to find the joy and beauty of mathematics, and I also seek to support and grow other teachers in their own work. To have achieved such a prestigious level of recognition is reaffirming and inspires me to expand the scope of my impact on student learning.

Amanda Fox Granger, IN | K-6, Mathematics, 2020

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

Amanda Fox just completed her 12th year of teaching and recently completed her eighth year in the Penn Harris Madison school district at Prairie Vista Elementary School. She has spent six of those years teaching third grade and previously taught fourth grade for two years. In her early years of teaching, she worked in the Hillsdale Community School District in Hillsdale, MI, and in the Page Unified School District in Page, AZ. Amanda is a high-ability teacher for third grade mathematics and English language arts where she has used computer science to deepen the computational thinking skills of her mathematics students. Amanda was also the Project Lead The Way teacher at Prairie Vista Elementary and part of the teacher leadership team. Her passion for designing, building, and mathematics led her to be the teacher sponsor for the first VEX Robotics team at Prairie Vista. The passion she has for mathematics and computer science also gave her a platform to host several afterschool classes focused on coding—both introductory and more advanced, looking at topics such as artificial intelligence. Amanda has taken part in a research experience for teachers through the University of Notre Dame where she developed curriculum for use in elementary classrooms both at Prairie Vista Elementary and other elementary classrooms in the surrounding districts. Additionally, she had the opportunity to discuss and take part in evaluation and discussion of the state of Indiana’s computer science standards. In the last two years, she has also taken part in the Indiana Computer Science Teachers Association group and holds the role of president for the Northeast hub. Amanda received a B.A. in elementary education from Siena Heights University and is certified in kindergarten through sixth grade.

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