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Published on 09/29/1999 All articles from this issue

Six Los Altos and Mountain View teachers honored as the county's most 'outstanding'

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Diane Claypool

School District: Mountain View School District

School: Edith Landels Elementary School

Position: Claypool retired from her full-time position as a fifth-grade teacher last June. She currently works part-time with a gifted class of fourth and fifth graders.

Years teaching: 33

Years with district: 33

Activities: Coordinated "Living History of Colonial Landelsburg," a simulated colonial village where students assume roles of villagers from that era. Claypool was honored by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for her program and is one of their mentors and curriculum designers; works with the curriculum department at the Santa Clara County Office of Education; provides in-service training in history and social science for teachers.

Philosophy: Claypool said she wants students to realize that learning can be fun. She said she utilizes "as many hands-on things as I can. It's really fulfilling when kids get excited about learning."

Background: Claypool graduated from Colorado College with a degree in fine arts, which she has utilized to recreate history in the classroom.

Claypool has gone as far as recreating a colonial village from cardboard props to better teach history to her students. During the annual "Colonial Landelsburg" event, students learn how to speak 18th-century English and assume roles of characters studied in the classroom. The program recently won the Glenn Hoffmann Exemplary Program Award. Claypool will be honored next month in San Jose.

Michael Ahern

School District: Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District

School: Alta Vista High School

Position: Math and science teacher

Years teaching: 15

Years with district: 6

Activities: Mentor teacher; 1999 California State Continuation Education Teacher of the Year for district IV; Flight Opportunities for Science Teacher EnRichment (FOSTER) participant at NASA Ames Research Center.

Philosophy: Ahern said he tries to "combine humor with kindness. I get to know (students) as people. I find out more about them than many teachers care to know."

Background: Ahern earned his bachelor's degree in biology from Cal Poly. He founded and operated the Ocean Camp Summer Science Program, a summer marine science program emphasizing marine biology and natural history in San Luis Obispo before coming to the Bay Area to teach high school biology. Cal Poly acquired the program when he left.

Ahern said he began Alta Vista at a chaotic time. His classroom had little equipment and outdated textbooks.

"I do well in chaos," he said. He rounded up 14 adult volunteer mentors from the community to help out in

class and secured a grant to purchase equipment.

"The real success is when I see kids who are the first to graduate in their family or pass a math test for the first time," Ahern said. "Not a week goes by when I don't feel like I'm at a critical point in a person's life."

Susan Walden

School District: Whisman School District

School: Whisman School

Position: kindergarten teacher

Years teaching: 30

Years with district: 26

Activities: Lead and mentor teacher in the area of literacy; literacy coordinator for Whisman.

Philosophy: "I get students at all stages of development. My job is to meet them where they're at and move them - anyway I can," she said.

Background: Walden came to the Whisman School District from San Bruno. She earned her elementary education degree from San Jose State University, but worked as a stewardess for Pan American Airlines first so she could explore the world, Walden said. Walden has taught grades K-4, but said kindergarten is her favorite grade level.

"It's inspiring to watch them read for the first time," Walden said. "Reading makes a difference when they're this young ... I help give them some good habits."

Walden helped coordinate the "Literacy Initiative" program at the district. She described the program as a partnership between the school, the community and local businesses. Through the program, local businesses have donated numerous books, which Walden has categorized by reading level in a special literacy room. Walden said overall test scores have gone up at the school since implementing the program three years ago. Walden has lived in Los Altos for 21 years with her husband, Lance.

Jim Grijalva

Few graduates can look back on their school days without remembering a special teacher who helped them hurdle their math anxieties, turn them onto the wonders of science or develop an appreciation of history.

In honor of those outstanding educators, Santa Clara County honored 26 of the area's best teachers as "Teacher of the Year" during the 30th annual Teacher Recognition Day held Monday in Mountain View by the County Office of Education. This is a top countywide award given to individual classroom teachers.

The six teachers honored who live or teach in Los Altos and Mountain View are:

District: Los Altos School District

School: Blach and Egan intermediate schools

Position: Industrial technology teacher

Years teaching: 11

Years with district: 9

Activities: President of the Los Altos School District's Teacher's Association; chairman of the district's Teacher Technology Review Committee, a group which helps teachers become proficient with technology; implemented the industrial technology explorations program at both Blach and Egan.

Philosophy: "I really like to encourage kids to be open- minded about stuff so at least they can gain an appreciation for what they're working on," Grijalva said.

Background: Grijalva said he's a life-long learner. The San Jose native updated his basic woodshop class to include modern engineering. He is currently working on his master's degree at San Jose State University.

Grijalva developed the technology explorations program at Blach and Egan in 1989. He alternates the class each semester between the two schools. In the class, students learn to build rockets and race cars as well as traditional woodworking.

Los Altos residents Chris Kenison and Shirley Stevens were also named teachers of the year.

Kenison is a mathematics teacher at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale. He has worked at the Fremont Union High School District his entire 29-year career. He is a mentor teacher, active in the Santa Clara County Math Association.

Stevens is a first-grade teacher at San Miguel School in Sunnyvale. She has worked 31 years of her 32-year career in the Sunnyvale School District and has developed learning centers to enhance her reading, writing, science and social studies programs.