As the school year draws to a close, we would like to take a moment to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and patience that our teachers put into making sure our children received the best education possible. It has been tough this past year, but here at SST, we made sure that not one child was left behind. We know that moving to e-learning has been a challenge, but our teachers have gone beyond this year, which is why we would like to announce the SST-Houston Area 2020-21 Teacher of the Year Awards.
-
For the 2020-21 Teacher of the Year Award for Secondary category, we would like to Congratulate Roopalbahen Patel, a 6th-grade Math Teacher from our school SST-Sugar Land. She has demonstrated her unwavering commitment to nurturing and inspiring her students. Finding new exciting and engaging ways to support her students' learning no matter where their learning takes place!
She has seven years of experience in education, teaching elementary and middle school levels in India. When she moved to the USA in 2014, she was afraid to continue her career as a teacher. That’s why she started to work as a substitute teacher in two different ISDs. She thinks working as a substitute is a great opportunity to enhance the experience and learn from all different varieties of classrooms. She learned students centered instruction and understood a variety of cultures. She got an opportunity as a Math teacher in the SST. She used her teaching techniques and knowledge from two different countries' education systems. She was promoted as department head and she got recognized as Elementary Teacher of the year in her second year teaching in the USA. She has trained many instructional staff members in her campus and district on how to use and integrate effective instruction in the classroom. She defines her successful teaching years when her former student contacted her to share about his cancer diagnosis and former student’s email about his success in life. She strongly believes that relations with students and parents make teaching easier. She has done 37 home visits this year. She thinks home visits are best practices to increase parents’ involvement and student performance. She considers working with children to be a privilege and joy and marvels at the magic that happens in the classroom every day. She believes that Education does not mean knowledge only; it also contains life within it.
Congratulations to Ms. Patel.