Thompson, McClendon named Hoover 2020-21 Teachers of the Year
The Hoover school system on Thursday named Riverchase Elementary School teacher Katie Thompson as Hoover’s 2020-21 Elementary Teacher of the Year and Pam McClendon of the Riverchase Career Connection Center as the district’s Secondary Teacher of the Year.
Both were surprised with the news this morning.
A small contingent of central office staff and Riverchase Elementary Principal Alice Turney delivered the announcement to Thompson in front of the students in her special education classroom at Riverchase Elementary, and her family showed up to congratulate her as well.
“I am shocked. I am amazed, truly humbled and honored,” Thompson said.
This year, she is teaching 11 students with special needs, many of whom are non-verbal, in a self-contained classroom with the assistance of four teaching aides. Due to COVID-19, she is teaching four of them virtually, which is challenging, particularly with non-verbal students, she said.
But with the help of their parents and special communication devices most of the non-verbal students have, they are making it work, Thompson said.
She meets at length with her virtual students twice a week but carves out time each weekday for a group lesson for both students at home and in the classroom, she said.
“My students thrive in an environment where there is consistency,” she said. “They feed off consistency. I feel like they learn better when they’re on a schedule or a routine.”
Turney said Thompson is an excellent teacher who would do anything for the children she teaches. She thinks outside the box to find ways to help children with special needs, and communicates so well with parents, art teachers, occupational therapists and others involved in the students’ education, Turney said. “She really has a strong passion for making sure her kids get the best.”
This is Thompson’s fourth year at Riverchase and eighth year in education, which is her second career. She worked in the corporate world about 12 years after college but decided to follow a calling into education after her department at Southern Co. was eliminated in tough economic times in 2011, she said.
She had been volunteering with the Service Guild of Birmingham at the Bell Center, an early intervention program in Birmingham for young children with special needs, for seven years and felt the call into special education.
She worked as an aide in Trussville City Schools for two years while she earned a master’s degree in collaborative special education and then spent two years teaching at Pinson Elementary before coming to Riverchase.
Now, “I can’t imagine being anywhere else but in a classroom,” Thompson said. “I feel at home. I feel like they are my people. I’m just thrilled I get to help families of children with special needs navigate their educational journey.”
Her husband Brandon, children Cooper and Brice, and parents Buddy and Ginny Choat celebrated with Thompson at the school today.
SECONDARY TEACHER OF THE YEAR
McClendon, who is the lead teacher for the Cyber Innovation Academy at the Riverchase Career Connection Center (RC3), appropriately learned of the news through a Google Meet videoconference call. She was in Montgomery following the death of her mother on Tuesday.
Central office personnel joined RC3 Principal Debra Smith for the conference call in McClendon’s classroom so some of her students could be involved in the presentation as well.
McClendon said she, too, was very humbled by the award. There are so many great teachers in Hoover schools, including at RC3, she said.
“You never think that you’re worthy of something so elite,” McClendon said. “I don’t see myself as being a great teacher. I just see myself as being someone who really cares about kids.”
Like Thompson, McClendon also came into education as a second career. She spent time as a U.S. Marine and about 10 years putting her business degree to work before realizing she needed to be in education. “Teaching was just my love,” she said.
She went back to school and got a master’s degree in education in 2002 and is now in her 19th year as a teacher. She spent four years at Bottenfield Middle School (now Minor Middle School), seven years at Hueytown High School, seven years at Oak Grove High School and one year at Minor High School before being recruited to the Cyber Innovation Academy at RC3 when it started in the fall of 2019.
When the lead teacher of the academy had to leave, McClendon stepped into that role in January 2020 and now teaches introduction to computer science, Advanced Placement computer science and a Java computer programming course.
Smith, her principal, said McClendon certainly has the skills needed to be a good teacher, but what makes her unique is the heart and passion she has for teaching and her students.
McClendon is able to connect with students and get them excited about being at school and learning, Smith said. Even in such a difficult year, personally and professionally, McClendon has been able to come to school every day, be prepared, connect with the students and give all she has to them, Smith said.
McClendon established the computer science programs at Oak Grove and Minor high schools and helped develop Jefferson County’s career prep curriculum. She is on Gov. Kay Ivey’s Computer Science Advisory Council and is a trainer for the A+ College Ready Advanced Placement computer science program.
She was named the 2020 Computer Science Teacher of the Year by the National Center for Women & Information Technology and was a 2015 finalist for Jefferson County Teacher of the year.
McClendon said she was inspired to teach by her 10th and 11th grade English teacher, who saw abilities in her that no one else saw, encouraged her and changed the way she saw herself.
Now, she loves working with students and helping them see their worth, power, strength and abilities, she said.
“We may have something different to offer, but we all have something to offer,” McClendon said. “Every student can be successful. It may take a different path. Some go to college. Some go straight into the workforce.”
But she wants all of them to know they can be successful, she said.
McClendon lives in McCalla with her husband, Isiah. They have two sons: Darius, an environmental scientist in Dayton, Ohio, and Matthew, a junior at Shelton State Community College.