The Presidential Award is the ultimate professional learning; it makes you look close up at your teaching practice and face the multitude of blunders all teachers make. Within that mix of mistakes and mediocre moments lie true nuggets of inspired teaching. Applying is about identifying, replicating, and distilling those moments of pure student learning. I've gone through that difficult application process, and being awarded it now means I'm responsible for sharing my learning with all teachers.

Todd Vawdrey Salt Lake City, UT | 7-12, Mathematics, 2021

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

Todd Vawdrey is currently a mathematics and computer science teacher at West High School, where he has been for seven years. He was previously an educational assessment and data specialist for the Utah State Board of Education for four years and a teacher at Lone Peak High School for nine years. Todd also teaches summer and evening classes for the University of Utah. Todd's overall objective is facilitating classroom experiences which are challenging, effective, and rewarding for students. His activities have a strong modeling component which require students to estimate a quantity and analyze the potential error in their measurement. He currently teaches all levels of computer science through Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) computer science courses, as well as College Algebra, Trigonometry, AP Calculus BC, and IB Math Approaches & Analysis HL. Todd is the coach for his school's competitive mathematics team. Many of his students are invited to the National MathCounts competition as well as the American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME). He has also been the coach for Utah's MathCounts team at the national competition on multiple occasions. As a believer in high quality student data, Todd has worked with many assessments at a national level, including being an AP Reader for the AP Computer Science A exam, a designer and item reviewer for the Winsight Assessment System, and an advisor for the Technology Education Praxis exam for aspiring educators. He is also the Testing Coordinator for his school. Todd is a National Board Certified Teacher. He earned a Master of Mathematics, an M.S. in computer science, and a B.S. in physics, all from Utah State University. He also has a B.A. in mathematics education from Brigham Young University.

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