Like a great book or an earwormy song, the lessons of an exceptional teacher tend to stick with you \u2014 even if they drive you a little mad at times. And you can rest assured these 10 outstanding educators (photographed here alongside their favorite inspirational quotes) will forever be a bug in the ear of many young Fort Worthians \u2014 in the best way possible, of course. Covering the gamut of grades, subjects, and school types \u2014 public, private, and charter \u2014 these Top Teachers, nominated by students, parents, and fellow faculty members, have made lasting impressions that will echo beyond the classroom for years to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aneesha Lee\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
Rivertree Academy, Kindergarten\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n Few teachers get to experience what Aneesha Lee just experienced . Throughout her 20 years as an educator, Lee had always taught Pre-K and landed at Rivertree Academy five years ago teaching Pre-K 3. After three years, Lee moved up to Pre-K 4, following the same students she had the previous year. The next year, she graduated to kindergarten. \u201cSo, I had [the same students] for three years,\u201d Lee says. \u201cAnd this is my last year teaching them because I\u2019ll be staying at the kindergarten level.\u00a0 Despite the difficulty saying goodbye, she\u2019s still very much looking forward to a new crop of kiddos. \u201cI\u2019m excited for the next group to come in and see what I can do to further their education.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Jeff Capaldo\u00a0<\/p>\n Fort Worth Country Day, Third Grade\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n This marks Jeff Capaldo\u2019s first year at Fort Worth Country Day, having spent his previous nine years teaching in Keller ISD, and he jokingly attributes his Top Teacher honor to getting lucky with his first group of students and parents. But speaking with Capaldo, one quickly picks up on his self-deprecating humor. \u201cMaybe I\u2019ve gotten lucky 10 times,\u201d Capaldo says, referring to the number of years he\u2019s been behind the teacher\u2019s desk. \u201cAnd this year, I\u2019m going to be found out that I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing.\u201d One couldn\u2019t possibly be so fortunate, Mr. Capaldo. You\u2019re doing something very, very right.\u00a0<\/p>\n Krista Richard \u00a0<\/p>\n Godley Middle School, Art (Previously Arlington Heights)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Krista Richard is changing schools to be closer to her home in Granbury, venturing about 30 minutes from her previous stomping grounds at Arlington Heights. She will be teaching at Godley Middle School next year. Richard\u2019s first Fort Worth teaching job was at Kirkpatrick Middle School, where she taught for 13 years and built the art program up before heading Arlington Heights. A big believer in her students tackling community projects, you can see her students\u2019 artwork all over town.\u00a0 According to Richard, \u201cI take advantage of every opportunity to get a kid to learn outside the classroom.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Kenneth Amos \u00a0<\/p>\n Polytechnic High School, AVID, English, and Yoga\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Through AVID, Kenneth Amos isn\u2019t just running through curriculum within a set syllabus; he\u2019s teaching students how to tackle life. \u201c[AVID] is a program that offers strategies and techniques for organization and articulation, community-based learning, teamwork, and individual determination.\u201d Amos says one can tell when a student is in AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. \u201c[You can see them using] all the different strategies they\u2019ll take with them after graduating.\u201d Thoughtful, intuitive, and open-minded, Amos also teaches English and yoga. Yes, yoga \u2014 because he wants to expose students to helpful disciplines outside the realm of their everyday lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n Zachary Lycans \u00a0<\/p>\n Great Hearts Lakeside, Seventh Grade History\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n As a history teacher, Zachary Lycans tells stories. And much like a good novel, main characters have full-blown arcs with highs and lows. Except in Lycans\u2019 stories, the characters and events actually existed and occurred. \u201cAnd I warn them,\u201d Lycans says, \u201cdon\u2019t start falling in love with the characters. I\u2019m like, \u2018Guys, there are maybe five people we\u2019re going to cover this whole year that come out looking good.\u2019\u201d And like any great story, Lycans brings it back to the bigger picture. \u201cI tell students, \u2018There are going to be people in your life that make poor decisions. How does that affect how you view them? What does that look like in the context of everything else about them? What about you?\u2019 It helps to give a rounded view of humanity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Heather Minton \u00a0<\/p>\n Jane Justin School, Fourth Grade Special Education\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n The quote from B.F. Skinner, a revolutionary psychologist, isn\u2019t just Heather Minton\u2019s favorite quote, she actively tries to live it every day of her life. \u201cEverything I do and everything I say has an impact on me. It shapes me, who I am, and those around me,\u201d Minton says. At the Jane Justin School, a special education school at Cook Children\u2019s Hospital, Minton works with children who have developmental and learning disabilities with the goal to make each child the best scholar, citizen, and loyal friend they can be. \u201cTeaching them to be kind, respectful, patient, and forgiving,\u201d she says. \u201cI try to teach them and show them that their action makes a difference, and they can make a positive difference.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Lisa Robinson<\/p>\n Southwest Christian School, Seventh Grade Spanish and Leadership\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Teaching a course that tackles leadership the first half of a semester and Spanish the second half, the curriculum made Lisa Robinson realize she was right where she needed to be. The dual course had long been a requirement at Southwest Christian School, and having grown up in Mexico, Robinson says it was tailor-made for her. Though Robinson is obviously a dang good educator, she\u2019s not resting on her laurels. She\u2019s currently pursuing her master\u2019s degree with a principal certificate. \u201cI love the variety of [being a principal],\u201d Robinson says. \u201cAnd I really love encouraging people \u2014 students, parents, and teachers \u2014 to do their best.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Ron Clark \u00a0<\/p>\n Cassata Catholic High School, Math\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Ron Clark grew up in Haltom City before moving to the West Side. He then went to TCC before attending TCU and then ultimately graduating from Texas Wesleyan. So, Clark\u2019s experienced about every nook and cranny the city has to offer. But, he\u2019s found his home at the Near Southside\u2019s Cassata Catholic High School, where he\u2019s been teaching math for 18 years. And what does he love so much about it? Well, it\u2019s the feeling that he\u2019s making a positive difference. \u201cI\u2019m recounting the number of times that I\u2019ve been asked by a student to introduce them at graduation as either the valedictorian or the salutatorian, and it tends to make you think you\u2019ve made a difference in their lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Amanda Patyk<\/p>\n All Saints\u2019 Episcopal School, Bridge\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the notable, unique offerings at All Saints\u2019 Episcopal School is Bridge, a stepping stone for youngsters between Pre-K and kindergarten. \u201cWe\u2019re the only big private school in Fort Worth that has [Bridge],\u201d Patyk says of the program, which is designed for children who aren\u2019t quite ready for the demands of kindergarten. \u201cWe do a mesh between Pre-K and kinder, so it\u2019s wherever they are [in their educational journey]; that\u2019s where we meet them. If they\u2019re ready to read, we start teaching them how to read. If they\u2019re not there yet, we do letter sounds and whatever they need [to advance to the next step].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rogelio Alfaro \u00a0<\/p>\n Trimble Technical High School, Collision Repair\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Rogelio Alfaro\u2019s quote is from the man who previously had Alfaro\u2019s job at Trimble Tech. Alfaro was his student, and, in\u00a0 classic takes-one-to-know-one style, he could sniff out a future collision repair teacher. And, yes, the course is exactly what it sounds like \u2014 these kids learn the ins and outs of repairing cars after collisions. Alfaro started teaching at 24\u00a0 and has now been at Trimble Tech for 35 years. And his experience shows. Alfaro\u2019s students regularly bring home victory hardware from SkillsUSA competitions. \u201cYou\u2019ll see all my state plaques in my office,\u201d Alfaro says. \u201cAt least the ones since 2014. There\u2019d be more, but that\u2019s when I started putting the plaques up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like a great book or an earwormy song, the lessons of an exceptional teacher tend to stick with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":126911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,29751,3070,407,3553,7371,7372,13813,3060,358,7453,77791,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-126910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brian-kendall","10":"tag-classroom","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-feature","13":"tag-fort-worth","14":"tag-fortworth","15":"tag-people-of-influence","16":"tag-schools","17":"tag-texas","18":"tag-top-story","19":"tag-top-teachers","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114988717458489952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}