Texas Teacher Honored by President Obama

Shanna Peeples Named Teacher of the Year

Shanna Peeples, a high school English teacher from Amarillo, Texas has been named the U.S. Teacher of the Year.  Peeples was recognized by President Barack Obama yesterday at a ceremony at the White House.

Peeples is a teacher at Palo Duro High School, where the majority of students live below the poverty line with many being refugee children. Texas leads the United States in refugee resettlements. Peeples teaches many students from Somalia, Burma, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Cuba. Many are survivors with emotional trauma from their war-torn homelands. 

She states that her childhood exposed her to alcoholism and domestic violence, which provided her with empathy for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. "That's what helped me as a teacher probably more than anything, that I have that connection with them, unfortunately," Peeples said. "You can't really learn when you're scared. (source)"


In the 12 years that Peeples has been teaching, she has touched many lives and helped many students succeed through many hardships. Peeples will now spend the next year traveling across the U.S. to advocate on the behalf of educators. 

"I hope to remind people that public school teachers are amazing, dedicated, hard-working, smart and gifted people, " Peeples stated.  

Many teachers like Peeples work hard daily to help their students grow.  Here at Tried & True Tutoring, our teachers strive to help all our students become the best they can be. Want help improving your or your child's testing scores and academic grades?  Check out our highly-successful 1-on-1 tutoring programs. 

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