This week, TEN is happy to highlight the incredible teaching work of Maggie Waldner and Alicia Ruiz Godoy, who have been nominated by their peers as a part of TEN Teachers. We have received an overwhelming amount of nominations of incredible teachers across Denver! Read more about this week's teacher nominees below, and follow along as we continue to highlight teachers across Denver! To nominate a TEN Teacher, fill out this form!
Maggie Waldner
Maggie Waldner is a first-grade teacher at Downtown Denver Expeditionary School. Maggie came to teaching as a Teach For America corps member in NYC, and this year she returned to her home state of Colorado to continue her teaching career. She is passionate about early childhood education, educational justice, and STEM education.
"I wanted to give a hearty accolade to Maggie Waldner. She has earned the teacher of the year award in our hearts, in spades and times a million. I have heard this from so many of the parents as well. I am blown away by the way Maggie has intentionally and overwhelmingly supported her students and all of us parents, not only throughout the school year, but especially, and more impactfully, since the very first day of this pandemic school closure. Since day one, she has had zoom calls with the class every single day, where the kids get to connect, share, learn together, have dress-up days, and even have talent shows (I literally know no one else who’s kids’ teacher does that!), plus she holds small reading zoom groups multiple times a week for each group. She has provided endless support, given weekly feedback for each child, compiled large and ongoing lists of resources for help with engaging any style of learner, provided weekly plans with links, videos, even exercise breaks built-in (for our wiggly first-graders), and has set up daily office hours to meet one-on-one with every parent whenever they need help or want to connect. I am crying as I write this because I feel like, through the hardest times in the human history of our personal lives, we somehow managed to win the most incredible, intentional, caring, thoughtful, kind, and supportive teacher on the planet!" - Letia Frandina - Downtown Denver Expeditionary School
Alicia Ruiz Godoy
Alicia Ruiz Godoy is a teacher from Spain at Denver Language School. She has been teaching since 2001, the last five years in Denver. During her career she taught kids from 3 to 14 years old. She can't imagine herself in any other profession!
"Ms. Alicia is one of the most caring, supportive, and helpful teachers at our school. Each day, she greets her students with love and a welcoming smile and is so excited to teach her students each day. Ms. Alicia makes sure her students feel supported both academically and emotionally. She always makes herself available to talk to a student who is feeling down or finds time to celebrate when they have something exciting to share. Ms. Alicia spends her planning time working with students to help them grow in the subjects they struggle with. Outside of her classroom, Ms. Alicia takes time to make connections with the other 4th grade students, and all of the students at the school. She walks the halls smiling and saying hi to our entire school community. During this time of Remote Learning, Ms. Alicia jumped in immediately to help support teachers with the new technologies. She led trainings, coached teachers, and has helped many teachers set up their virtual classrooms, while also spending hours preparing for her own class. She is an amazing teacher and colleague and DLS is so lucky to have her." - Jessica Leonard - Denver Language School
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