You could say they are in a class of their own. On this episode of the Supercast, meet two award winning teachers who go above and beyond every single day. They are educators credited with changing lives and having a significant impact on their school communities.
Audio Transcription
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. You could say they are in a class all their own. On this episode of the Supercast, we meet two award-winning teachers who go above and beyond every single day. They are educators credited with changing lives and having a significant impact on their school communities.
We're here with Andrea Hinojosa, a teacher here at Copper Hills High School, and we're talking with her about an award she was just nominated for by a colleague. Tell us a little bit about that.
Andrea Hinojosa:
It is the Life Changer of the Year Award.
Anthony Godfrey:
And is that now at a national level? Is that what I understand?
Andrea Hinojosa:
Yes, it is. I think there's about 800- 900 nominees nationally.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, teachers are life changers there's no question about that. So I'm really excited that you're nominated. Tell me about what happens now. When do you expect to hear back whether you've advanced?
Andrea Hinojosa:
I think the timeline is May. They've got a committee that goes through the applications of former winners. That's my impression. And they go through the applications or the nominations and they choose the winners.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, from everything I've heard about you, you have a great shot at it. And either way, it's an honor that someone would think of you that way. I know that you're changing lives just based on what I've read about your teaching. Tell us about what you teach here first of all.
Andrea Hinojosa:
I teach AP US History and US History II, so I teach juniors.
Anthony Godfrey:
I always loved teaching juniors when I was at the high school level. What do you love about teaching and teaching history specifically?
Andrea Hinojosa:
So AP US History is definitely my happy place. I love that course because it keeps me challenged as an educator. I can't afford to be complacent because we have that exam that keeps us all kind of on our toes. So I just, I honestly, I love lesson planning, like getting in the zone and planning out how things are gonna go even down to the minute. It's a creative process that I really, really enjoy. And that class in particular, because it's not so much me telling the kids what to think, but how to think. So it's not a lecture based course 100% of the time, right. Because they have to learn how to analyze the documents. They have to learn how to extract the information. They have to learn how to think like a historian. So strategizing how to help them develop those skills. But then I also kind of really like the game of how to help them earn more points on the exam, right? It's kind of like a puzzle and I really enjoy kind of strategizing and creating, oh, this is gonna sound so nerdy, but like geeking out over building proficiency skills. That will, you know, help them get the most amount of points with the, this is also gonna sound awful, the least amount of effort. Because in this timed environment where they only have 60 minutes to collect these seven points, so, how can we max that out with without overexerting ourselves, if that makes sense.
Anthony Godfrey:
I think it's great that you focus on strategy and content because it really is about both. And if you're just thinking content the rest of your life, then you can't make the most of what you know, or even your skills. Strategy is a really important part going forward.
Tell me, does it change a lot from year to year what you're gonna be covering? Tell us about that. For those who don't know, there's a lot of training and preparation that goes into being an AP teacher.
Andrea Hinojosa:
Yes and no. I would say it depends. I mean, there's a lot of training available for AP teachers, but we have to seek out that training. I have to give a little plug to my department or sorry, my district wide PLC. I work with three phenomenal teachers within our district. Laura Taylor at Riverton, Kelsie Berrett at Mountain Ridge and Caitlin Ackley at West Jordan. And we have, I dare say, one of the most highly functioning PLCs within our district. I've worked with these teachers, Laura Taylor, since the day I got this job. I reached out to her and she and Jenicee Jacobson kind of took me under their wing and gave me everything they had. And we've been working together ever since. So everything I'm able to accomplish is honestly because I have a team of teachers behind me.
Anthony Godfrey:
It makes all the difference to be able to work with great colleagues and feed off of each other and get those great ideas.
Andrea Hinojosa:
Absolutely.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about why you decided to become a teacher. That wasn't your first career path.
Andrea Hinojosa:
No, it wasn't. I wanted to be a teacher. So I had an amazing eighth grade teacher, US History, when I was in middle school and she made me wanna become a teacher. But honestly, when I got to college the sad reality is that income became an issue for me. And I know that like, especially back then, teachers didn't make a lot of money. And so I went in another direction. At the time, I was about 28 years old, I was not in a professional happy place. And so I really kind of had to sit down and think through like, what is the perfect profession for me? And just like, what qualities am I looking for in a job? And teaching fit the bill. I went back to school when I was 28 years old, got another degree in social science education and got my first job teaching when I was 31. So I've only been here for 11 years, but it definitely is my professional happy place.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I'm really glad you made the switch. What was it about your eighth grade social studies class that made such an impact? Tell me about that teacher. Tell me about that class.
Andrea Hinojosa:
So her name was Mrs. Reed. I just remember her making it just so interesting. And I wanna say that was the first year my parents invested in a computer, you know, like the really big dinosaur that was $3,000 and it was hard for them to afford it. But Mrs. Reed had like these guided notes that we would do with all the activities. And I remember recreating them on my parents' brand new computer so that I could use them when I became a teacher. You know, like she just really got me interested. I remember specifically being really interested in the civil war based on what she presented. I don't know, like, she just made it fun and interesting.
Anthony Godfrey:
You had a high school teacher that impacted you as well.
Andrea Hinojosa:
I did. Mrs. Ballard at Skyline High School.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about Mrs. Ballard.
Andrea Hinojosa:
She is a quirky, quirky little lady and she is just amazing. She never wore the same outfit twice in a school year. That was one of her things.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now I'm just gonna pause right there because people who have not taught before don't realize how significant that is. Because I remember as a teacher, students know everything that you own. And I remember students commenting ‘Mr. Godfrey, your shoes and belt match. and most men can't pull that off. So well done.’ And I thought, wow, they are watching every single thing I do. So for you to remember that is really kind of funny to me because that's one of the things I remember about being a teacher is just that kids knew. They're like, ‘oh, that's my favorite tie.’ They always knew what your wardrobe was. but she always wore something different, all year.
Andrea Hinojosa:
All year. I can't even imagine what her closet looked like.
Anthony Godfrey:
And what else do you remember about her?
Andrea Hinojosa:
Well, I was able to go back and student teach with her actually when I became a teacher, because I wanted to learn from her. She really had been one of those teachers that inspired me and I wanted to kind of emulate her. And I do a lot of things in my classroom today that I learned from her. So one of the things I really remember from my student teaching experience was the trust that she gave me. She really I mean, she mentored me certainly, but she also gave me the confidence to know that I was doing a good job and that I could do it. So she really, you know, took that step back and let me do what I do. And that trust, I think, really helped me become who I am as a teacher. Because I had been her student, I had that relationship and I already had that level of trust with her. I knew that she would take me down a good path and that she would really mentor me. I wanted to make sure I was working with a teacher that I respected, that I knew I could learn from, that I knew would really teach me how to be a better teacher.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about how you impact lives as a teacher. I know that's the biggest reward.
Andrea Hinojosa:
It is, and it's why I'm here. And honestly, my very, very wonderful colleague who nominated me for this award, did so I think this year in particular, because as you know, it's been a rough couple of years and it's hard. It's been hard to know that we are making a difference. And so she used this opportunity to show me, and I'm sorry, I'm probably gonna get a little emotional. But she wanted to make sure that I was aware that even if things aren't the same this year as they were in years past, that I'm still making a difference, you know? And I think we may not hit every kid. We may not even hit every class. Right. But, we keep showing up and we keep trying. You know as a former teacher, like we go home and we sit with it and we think about like, what could I have done differently? What could I have said differently to make that situation better? Those are the things I need to hold onto in these years that are rough. Is that I still care. I still wanna come back and I still wanna do better. You know, I don't wanna give up.
Anthony Godfrey:
These two years have been so difficult and this year has been, I think, the most difficult I can remember and you've described well some of the reasons for that. You're right, we hold onto that when we go home and we worry about the kids and we worry about whether we're having an impact. The difficulty is, you don't always see that immediate impact. It's not like you look over the assignments or you stand at the front of the class and you get this constant feedback that you're having this lifelong impact. But I'm sure you've been surprised sometimes that the students that have come back and shared that with you when you didn't really realize just how much you were impacting their lives.
Andrea Hinojosa:
Yes. I love that. In fact, just maybe a week or so ago, I got an email from a former student that's in college who emailed and just wanted to check in. And you know, those are really, really nice reminders that what we do does make a difference. Even if we can't see it in the moment.
Anthony Godfrey:
You work very hard as a teacher, you're very organized. There's lots of content. There are lots of skills that you're teaching them, but when they look back on your class, what do you want them to remember?
Andrea Hinojosa:
That they were loved. I mean, I honestly, at the end of the day, I don't care about the content. I know, I’m sorry, that probably sounds horrible. I'm here to teach them content. I'm here to teach them skills and I want them to get that. But at the end of the day you know, that's not what matters to them. They need to feel loved and cared about and valued. And, I will help them pass. I don't care about that. I don't care so much about the grade as I do about them as people. So I hope that they know that I cared and that I do take it home with me and that I do think about it and it does bother me, you know, when we have negative interactions or things don't go the way I planned them to go because I care about them.
Anthony Godfrey:
It's obvious that you care a lot about them and that you love your students. It's a real honor to sit and talk with you about it. And it's really thrilling that we have a teacher like you here at Copper Hills. I just appreciate everything you do to have an impact on students.
Andrea Hinojosa:
Thank you.
Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back a conversation with Riverton High School's Carl Perkins Service Award winner, Trudy Pecorelli.
Break:
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Anthony Godfrey:
We’re here at Riverton High School talking with Trudy Pecorelli, who is the recipient of the 2022 Carl Perkins Service Award at the Utah, ACTE Conference. So the Career and Technical Education Conference for the state. First of all, congratulations on winning this award.
Trudy Pecorelli:
Thank you.
Anthony Godfrey:
It's really exciting. And I have to say, we posted about your receiving this award. We posted your picture a little bit about the award and it took off on social media. You have a lot of fans out there.
Trudy Pecorelli:
Thank you. I pay 'em well.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, you have a large budget because you apparently paid a lot of people. There was a lot, there was a really strong response. This award is not based on Carl Perkins, the 1950s rocker that sang Blue Suede Shoes before anybody else did. It's based on your contribution to the community, your demonstrated leadership in providing programs and activities that promote student involvement in community service and just being an all around great teacher, connecting to kids and providing them amazing opportunities. So tell me a little bit about, tell me what you teach here at Riverton. There are a lot of things that you do at Riverton High. What do you teach? What do you coach? Tell us everything you do here.
Trudy Pecorelli:
I was the first head coach here in 1999 and I was the head volleyball coach till 2011. And then I stepped down from that and that's when I was put in the classroom. I was in regular Health, but then I went to CTE and now I teach Intro to Health Science and Emergency Medical Responder, Yoga and Aerobics. And I do Driver's Ed after school. And I am the assistant Girls Golf coach.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's pretty amazing. You've got a long list of things that you're doing here. So let's start with the fact that you reinvented yourself halfway through your career. What drew you to these CTE classes that you've been teaching for over a decade now?
Trudy Pecorelli:
Well, when I stepped down from being the head coach that pretty much took me out of the gym. So I was given the opportunity to start teaching different classes in the classroom instead of just always being in the gym, because I was teaching Lifetime Fitness, Lifetime Sports, Team Sports, Weights classes, and stuff like that. So it was just a great opportunity because I did have that background in health as well.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the EMT class. What's involved? What are some of the things that a student comes away with from that class?
Trudy Pecorelli:
I've been working with Richard Clayton down at the JATC down here and he's the one that teaches the EMT course. And so with that, we wanted to kind of give the kids a baseline, a better baseline before went down to do the Emergency Medical Technician. And so now we're offering Emergency Medical Responder here, Health 1200, through SLCC. So the kids do get concurrent credit as well. When they leave here, they will be first aid certified. Recently I was contacted by OSHA when we went to the ACTE Conference where I presented the National Library of Medicine win their displays. I was contacted by OSHA, because they found out that I was an EMT to help prepare a 10 hour course for public health professionals.
Anthony Godfrey:
So you’re an EMT.
Trudy Pecorelli:
I am an EMT.
Anthony Godfrey:
So this may be the safest interview I've conducted in a long time.
Trudy Pecorelli:
Let’s hope.
Anthony Godfrey:
So tell me more about your presentation. I did hear that you presented at the National Conference just a few weeks ago.
Trudy Pecorelli:
Yeah, the one in New Orleans. Yeah, I presented the National Library of Medicine. John, I’ll have to look up his name, sorry, came to Denise Abbott. She is the HOSA state representative, to put together the presentation for the National Library of Medicine. And so Denise was contacted and we were able to come together and create a Nearpod to teach the students. And that's where we've presented at all the conferences. We wrote up lesson plans, so even if you have a sub plan for that day, that's something that the kids can follow along with. There is a self-paced guide as well as a teacher paced guide on how to use this Nearpod.
Anthony Godfrey:
Great.
Trudy Pecorelli:
And so with that, they can become a Level I Ambassador or a Level II Ambassador learning how to use the MedlinePlus.
Anthony Godfrey:
And what is MedlinePlus?
Trudy Pecorelli:
It's the National Library of Medicine’s website. You can go on there and look up anything and it's accurate. Most people will say they'll just Google something. Well, that's not always the most accurate information. This is the most accurate information for health purposes. So if you have something, like my mom was diagnosed, so I went to the National Library of Medicine and was able to look up treatment options and everything for her.
Anthony Godfrey:
I learned something new just now. That's great. Yeah. That's great. Tell me, why did you want to become a teacher in the first place?
Trudy Pecorelli:
I've just always had influential teachers in my life. I'd stay after school, like, you know, the class nerd, whatever to talk to the teachers. Miss Ostermiller was phenomenal, and then I had great coaches all through junior high and high school that just kind of directed me. I've always been like active and wanting to participate in sports and stuff. And this just gave me an avenue to continue on that.
Anthony Godfrey:
What were the sports you participated in high school?
Trudy Pecorelli:
I lettered in volleyball and basketball and track and softball.
Anthony Godfrey:
I've said this in the past, I just wish people like you could have thrown one sport to people like me. Just gimme one of those to be good at, you know. That's fantastic. So tell me, what is it that you love most about teaching now?
Trudy Pecorelli:
Just seeing how much opportunity kids have these days. It's amazing! Like, I'm into the help field obviously, but there's other avenues that the kids can find a niche in and just explore. Which is a great opportunity for them because we didn't have that near as much back in the day. For example, like my youngest son loves Auto and he's been able to just thrive in the auto industry thanks to great teachers like Jay Hales here, that has just given him that niche in life.
Anthony Godfrey:
Like we've talked about, you teach a wide variety of classes. Is there some essential element that you hope kids take from all of your classes regardless of what they're enrolled in?
Trudy Pecorelli:
One thing about me I guess I could say is, I'm very passionate about what I do. For a kid to come up and say,’ Hey, I'm still participating in yoga,I found it down at the gym.’ So after they leave high school that they're still participating and still active, that's that end. And anything in the classroom that they can walk away with, especially with a life skill. I've been CPR certified since I was 12 years old and it's very important to me that people know that. People I know have had to use CPR and it has saved lives. So that to me is my passion. That if I can just help somebody get a little bit of passion for what they like especially again, the medical field and aim them in that direction, I feel accomplished.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I just admire that you, throughout your career, since you were 12, getting CPR certified, you've cared about health. You've cared about physical wellbeing. And more than that, you've cared about making sure that students have great experiences. And you've been curious and intentional about jumping in and doing new things and then turning those experiences into opportunities for the students you serve. So that's very inspiring and I appreciate your taking the time and I really appreciate everything you're doing for the students here at Riverton High.
Trudy Pecorelli:
Thank you. This has been fun.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.