"Oftentimes We're It for that Child"

Angelica Jordan, a second- and third-grade Spanish teacher at Mannheim Elementary School in Mannheim, Germany, was honored yesterday at the Pentagon as the 2011 Defense Department Education Activity’s Teacher of the Year.The Teacher of the Year program honors the contribution excellent, committed teachers make to the quality of life for military families in the fourteen districts serving military children around the world.

“DOD teachers are experts at welcoming brand new students into the classroom and wishing them farewell when they [move],” she said. “Military teachers understand that, often times, we’re it for that kid. A parent may be deployed in harm’s way, and the parent that’s home is working and taking care of the kids and doing everything they can to keep it together for that year.”

Jordan taught at-risk youth in Minnesota for nine years before taking an assignment with DoDEA. “I felt truly called to be part of the military community where I can make a difference in the life of a child, because I felt like I could understand their worries and fears about losing a parent,” she said. “Their parents could be deployed, and they may or not come home, and I can really relate to military kids, because I was missing a parent.”

“When the kids come to our classroom, they deserve to be loved and respected,” she said, “and when kids come to DoDEA schools, they need to know that it’s going to be consistent, that it’s going to be the same every day, and that they are going to be cared for.” The photo to the right shows some of the children at Mannheim Elementary School.

Coming to the Pentagon helped Jordan to realize that “I am part of more than Mannheim Elementary School, that I’m a part of more than DOD Europe. I’m part of a huge system that’s here to support the teachers, and my primary role is supporting military families.”