The School District of Philadelphia is proud to name Meredith Leon as December 2022’s Teacher of the Month! Meredith is a first-grade teacher at Overbrook Educational Center (OEC) who, according to her nominator, fellow first-grade teacher Anna Phelan, “is not only committed to the success of her first graders but the success of the entire OEC community.” Throughout the years, Meredith has gone above and beyond as an educator and has proven herself to be an intricate part of the progress at SDP.
One of the details that stood out in Ms. Leon’s nomination is how she takes the additional time and effort to make stories come to life for students. For example, she makes spaghetti and meatballs for her students every time they read “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and she bakes them homemade blueberry pie when they read “Enemy Pie”. Students make flower art after reading “Chrysanthemum” and stained-glass fish after reading “Rainbow Fish”. Her commitment to bringing reading lessons to life has caused her students to fall in love with reading! In addition, Ms. Leon has been the Drama Club director at OEC for the past five years. She serves ORC students from 3rd to 8th grade by assisting them with auditioning, rehearsing, and performing a show every year.
Ms. Leon also dedicates herself to benefitting the entire school community by sharing her expertise and resources with her colleagues. For instance, Ms. Leon had experience using a different curriculum from a previous school. When OEC began to implement this particular curriculum, Ms. Leon held training sessions on her own accord for other teachers. She even videotaped herself practicing routines and shared it with other teachers. She also offered her colleagues to come to her classroom and observe her teaching. We are so thankful for Meredith’s openness and generosity when it comes to sharing her resources, skills, and expertise. Her dedication to helping her colleagues has contributed to the academic success of so many students and will continue to do so in the future.
Congratulations, Meredith Leon! You are a shining example of excellence. Thank you for your continued commitment to students and staff at the School District of Philadelphia!