The Presidential Award application process provided an opportunity for intense professional reflection. As an applicant, I was pushed to improve my mathematics instruction through research, collegial conversation, video reflection, and assessment analysis. The process was rewarding; I saw the results in my students. My students were more successful and confident mathematicians, which is especially critical in that I specialize in serving struggling students.

Suzanne Farmer Danville, KY | K-6, Mathematics, 2012

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Suzanne Farmer has served as a mathematics intervention teacher for the past 6 years of her 13-year teaching career. For the past 3 years, she has taught kindergarten through fifth grade at Toliver Elementary School. The first 10 years of her teaching career were spent at the Early Childhood Center in Lawrenceburg, KY, where she taught preschool, kindergarten, and special education. Suzanne trains other teachers across the state in Math Recovery assessments, instruction, and early elementary mathematics Response to Intervention. At Toliver Elementary School, she created a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Lab for all students and a girls' Mathematics Leadership Club to promote STEM careers. In 2012, Suzanne was recognized as a top 50 innovator in education by "Converge" magazine for using technology to help students reflect, document their thinking, communicate strategies to teachers and parents, and educate peers. Suzanne has a B.S. in art history from Indiana University and an M.S. in family studies from the University of Kentucky. She is certified in interdisciplinary early childhood education and has a principal certification.  She has been a National Board Certified Early Childhood Generalist since 2004.

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