The Kinder Excellence in Teaching Awards (KETA) has awarded over $4 million in grants to more than 275 teachers since the program was established in 2001. The program concentrates on the Houston area and recognizes innovative and results-oriented teaching and raises public awareness of the importance of effective and committed teachers. We proudly celebrate our teachers being part of the awardees for the last 13 years.
This August, four YES Prep teachers -Patrick Adre, YES Prep Southeast Secondary; Ike Moten, YES Prep North Central Secondary; Diana Rodriguez, YES Prep Southeast Elementary; and Timmy Woyan, YES Prep Southwest Secondary- were surprised with a $25,000 life-size check from the Kinder Foundation while their principal, fellow teachers, family and students cheered them on. We were able to capture some of those special moments, check them out below.
Presenting YES Prep’s 2023 Kinder Excellence in Teaching Awards recipients
Patrick Adre, YES Prep Southeast Secondary
In his tenure at Southeast Secondary, Patrick Adre, seventh grade English language arts teacher, has remained student-focused, open, receptive and adaptable. He has a comprehensive ability to support all students, has an extensive record of accomplishment of exemplary student achievement results and is committed to personal and professional learning, and campus and system impact. Adre treats all who enter his classroom as family. His greatest strength is building authentic relationships with his students by modeling the kindness and respect he wishes to see in his classroom. Students are greeted with peace signs as they enter their classroom, and the year is forged on connection and reflection. He individualizes the support he offers students based on their own personal strengths and growth areas.
Adre is an innovator. He is constantly looking to improve his practice and eager to try new things. Behind the scenes, Adre is a carefully planned and intrinsically motivated teacher. His lessons plans are meticulous and serve as an exemplar for new and veteran teachers. They also are undeniably responsive to data and seek to make learning real for students and their own lived experiences. He drives his own development and is sought out as the standard when district employees are on campus for observations or may need a video to share with leaders at an upcoming professional development because his classroom is the bar.
For nine years, Adre’s ability to inspire all those he encounters, build connections and live his passion every day whilst garnering results for kids is consistent and unwavering. His care and drive for the wider Southeast and YES Prep community extends far beyond the four walls of his classroom.
Ike Moten, YES Prep North Central Secondary
At North Central Secondary, Ike Moten, sixth grade science teacher, is known as the “Pony Whisperer” (young Trailblazers are sometimes referred to as “ponies”). He has received this title as students from grades sixth to 12th will tell you their favorite teacher is Mr. Moten. While our staff calls him “Ike” or “Mr. Moten,” they are all keenly aware of his role as the “Pony Whisperer,” due to the enviable relationships he has created with North Central students and families. Moten has earned this title for his excellence inside and outside of the classroom. Moten ensures his students are one of the top performing groups when comparing his data to sixth grade science classes across the district. Moten’s work instills a foundation and love of science that helps students experience success in science for years to come.
Moten is also a flag football coach, continuing to build relationships with students across grade levels and building student athletes who compete for trophies and model what it means to “live the Blue Orange” as a Trailblazer. He has also served as a member of North Central’s Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) Committee, working to create opportunities for staff to engage in challenging and reflective dialogue to build a more inclusive, anti-racist school community.
Moten has served as sixth grade level chair (GLC) and high school dean of students. Both roles allowed him to continue his positive impact on students through leading adults to deliver excellence. As a GLC, he managed the sixth-grade staff to welcome new Trailblazers to the culture and expectations of North Central, laying the foundation for their next six years. As sigh school dean of students, he leveraged student relationships to build an inclusive culture, where students and staff work together to achieve success. Each of these roles were full of challenges, but Moten was relentless in leading to overcome the challenges and experience success.
He is motivated by his students and committed to doing everything within his power to serve with excellence.
Diana Rodriguez, YES Prep Southeast Elementary
Diana Rodriguez, pre-K teacher at Southeast Elementary, is a person who saves and transforms lives. Research has shown that the impact of a high-level early childhood program is invaluable. An early childhood program delivered by an effective teacher has the potential of positively impacting a student. Rodriguez has received and taught, with an open heart, students with autistic and severe behavioral issues. By year's end, these students are able to learn and function within her class and contribute and engage in such a manner that has both grown them and their fellow students. Rodriguez’s impact has also established, within the hearts of parents, the beauty, necessity and importance of an early education. Her accomplishments have established a foundation, one in which the upper grades have continued to build upon with ease and effectiveness.
Rodriguez is quiet in nature but the impact she has in the community reverberates. Our community cannot grow and be great without the effective contribution of an early childhood teacher. Rodriguez faithfully lays the groundwork for Southeast Elementary and the community as a whole, while also being a great mother, wife and sister. The daily choice she makes to graciously, effectively and with love, educate the little ones is life transformational and one that only a true hero can make.
Timmy Woyan, YES Prep Southwest Secondary
Timmy Woyan joined Southwest Secondary in summer 2017 as a middle school math/science Special Education teacher and has now taught for six years. He is a relentless advocate for students. Woyan consistently uses data to help students meet their goals and works extremely hard to differentiate instruction for students across the district. He is so passionate about student achievement goals that he created a data binder for each student to track their own progress. Students were able to color a bar graph when they completed an assignment and see their growth throughout the year.
Woyan is one of the hardest working people. When it comes to lesson planning, he starts with the end in mind by taking the latest released STAAR to determine what standards to prioritize with his students. He then calendars those lessons and strives to support students more than their schedule of services calls for to make sure students meet their goals. He currently holds four titles at YES Prep: he is a Special Education teacher, an instructional team leader, a content/test prep facilitator and a curriculum writer and course facilitator. He works to advance educational equity at Southwest Secondary and district wide in his work as curriculum writer, where he differentiates instructional material at the district level.
He has worked hard to make sure students get identified quickly when he has seen a need and advocated for increasing student minutes when they were not making adequate progress. He has also advocated growing our campus Special Education team in response to student needs. We have grown from two teachers to four teachers and two teaching assistants to better support students and fulfill their schedule of services.
------
The Kinder Excellence in Teaching Awards have a transformational impact on the lives of the educators who earn them. In the past, teachers have used the award money in many ways to help improve the quality of life for themselves, their families, their students and their communities. We are proud to continue the work in providing equitable access to a college-ready education to under-resourced communities and hiring professionals who take the lead in that charge. Congratulations, YES Prep teachers!