One of Three Veteran Teacher Winners Will Be Named Montgomery County Teacher of the Year

Four outstanding Montgomery County Public Schools teachers have won Marian Greenblatt Excellence in Teaching Awards—three veteran teachers and a first-year teacher. The award is named in honor of Marian Greenblatt’s service as a former president and member of the Board of Education.

One of the three veteran Greenblatt winners, all middle school science teachers, will be named Montgomery County Teacher of the Year on Tuesday, April 21, at the Champions for Children Gala sponsored by the Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education.


Veteran Teacher Winners

Bryan Goehring, Takoma Park Middle School
Bryan Goehring has made science a favorite course at Takoma Park Middle School. A teacher for nearly 20 years, Goehring is now a seventh grade science teacher and the seventh grade team leader. In his classroom, students are engaged with interactive, hands-on projects, games and enthusiastic lessons, sometimes using fun gadgets and gizmos. He created his own web page so that students and parents can get information about his classes, ask questions or learn more about science topics. As the science department chair, this collaborative leader offers teachers suggestions and strategies to improve student achievement. An energetic influence in student lives, his work with students doesn’t stop when he leaves the classroom. He tutors, coaches youth football and sponsors a full load of extracurricular activities, including the Junior Civitans, and the Yearbook, Newspaper, Forensic and Ski clubs. Goehring accompanies students on a monthly trip to serve food at a homeless shelter, and organizes a food drive during the holidays for needy families.

Jennifer Goodstein, Thomas W. Pyle Middle School
An imaginative and innovative educator, Jennifer Goodstein sees science in everything. A sixth grade science teacher at Thomas W. Pyle Middle School, Goodstein believes that experiencing science increases understanding. She enhances the curriculum with experiential activities, such as a Meet the Scientist Tea, Amusement Park Simulation and Prehistoric Animal Museum. She created the Chesapeake Bay Extravaganza, now an annual event that showcases hundreds of student environmental projects and attracts parents, elected officials and representatives from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. About 500 people attend the popular Study Skills Night event that Goodstein started, which teaches students how to study and parents how to help. She also initiated Strategies for Success nights, an event that teaches organizational and study skills that can be used at home. This has helped innumerable students in preparing for assessments and other assignments. The Scientist of the Month Club, which she co-sponsors, has brought community members into the school to further promote science. Among the visitors: a meteorologist, a geneticist, a veterinarian and an orthopedic surgeon.

Autumn Moore, Ridgeview Middle School
Autumn Moore lives by the principle that every student can succeed. An eighth grade science teacher at Ridgeview Middle School, Moore weaves the importance of science into students’ daily lives. A beloved teacher who knows how to connect with and motivate students, she pushes for academic excellence, while also exposing students to community service experiences, field trips, study programs and team building opportunities outside the traditional classroom. She has traveled with students to a Women in Science Fair, to show them the diversity of jobs available in the world of science. The hallways outside her classroom celebrate the achievements of her students on tests and projects. Earlier this year, Moore received a $5,000 Student Achievement Grant from the National Education Association Foundation. Her proposal would bring scientists from the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore to Ridgeview to work with small groups of students and make presentations. Students also would take a trip to visit the Science Center.


First-Year Teacher Winner

Jaclyn Klueger, Sequoyah Elementary School
Jaclyn Klueger, a third grade teacher at Sequoyah Elementary School, is this year’s First Year Teacher Award winner. Exceptionally organized, she manages her classroom like a veteran and instills an enthusiasm for lifelong learning in her students. Every lesson plan provides opportunity for review, practice and challenge, which paves the road to success for every student. Because she is confident in her students’ abilities, she sets high expectations for them, and they rise to the challenge. Klueger has a unique ability to communicate with her students and to provide them with individualized, creative strategies to improve their performance in school. She takes extra time with students who need it, and parents can tell the difference in the progress of their children academically. Parents comment that her confidence in the students boosts their self-confidence. Klueger keeps in close contact with parents, offering them weekly updates by email. She regularly seeks the counsel of her peers, peppering them with questions and constantly tweaking her teaching style.