2012 - Regional Teacher of the Year - Tammy Alejandre

Tammy teaches 1st – 4th grade at Eagleridge, a position she has held for the past 15 years. She is a National Board Certified Teacher. Tammy also mentors student interns – focusing on teaching that ever important skill of scaffolding students’ leaning and prompting new teachers to reflect on why certain teaching practices work.



Tammy’s classroom is alive with integrated curriculum that weaves essential reading, writing and math skills into all subjects and uses historical events such as the Japanese Internment to teach big picture concepts like respect alongside Washington State History.

Tammy also loves math, but she knows this one subject can be challenge for many students and families. When the district introduced a new curriculum, Tammy held a series of sessions for parents. This quickly grew into an annual Family Math Night where parents and caregivers get familiar with the curriculum and students have a chance to teach their families fun games and exercises to play at home.



In her building, Tammy has been a leader for school improvement. As a member of her School Improvement team, she helped the school shift focus from teaching to student learning – setting up a system of detailed goals in reading and math. She also drafted the new schedule that increased grade level team planning time from 30 minutes to 210 minutes a week.



Tammy is passionate about closing the achievement gap, and believes we must work with schools that struggle not threaten them. Although she sees many things that teachers can do to improve their skills in this area, she believes that we must fully invest in the programs that support struggling families, such as Head Start, if we are to make a lasting impact.