2023 - Regional Teacher of the Year - Chelsea Brannock

Chelsea Brannock teaches English Language Development and English Language Arts at Wahluke High School in Mattawa, WA. It's a small, densely-populated agricultural town full of incredible people. Wahluke High School is 97.8% Hispanic/Latino, 49.7% ELs, 88.6% low income, 13.7% experiencing homelessness, 56.7% migrant, and 12.5% students with disabilities. In the face of challenges and adversity, her students are resilient, kind, hard-working, and will leave positive, influential marks on the world. Chelsea has dedicated her career to advocating for students who are learning English. She has stepped into and created different roles over the years to better support students. Her core belief is that all students deserve a high-quality education with the necessary supports to reach their academic and personal successes. Chelsea believes being bilingual, or multilingual, is an asset to be celebrated. Currently, she trains staff in her district on strategies to support students learning English and all students. In her bilingual classroom students are active members of the learning community--participating in structured student talk that outweighs teacher talk, involved in interactive reading and note-making, navigating through writing tools with academic language patterns, and collaborating with peers on topics of social justice throughout American history. Studying diverse perspectives and cultures is a necessity to help form empathetic critical thinkers in the new generations of contributing members of society. Beyond the classroom, building relationships with families is extremely important to Chelsea. She knows working as a team to support the whole child helps them succeed. She started home visits to really get to know families' backgrounds, experiences, goals, and dreams. Se's brought families into the school for parent nights, student presentations, and meals.   To advocate more, she's a member of the Building Leadership Team, Head of the Language Department, BEST Mentor, and a member of the Wahluke Equity Leadership Team.