Teacher of the Month - October 2021 - Lena Walker
In cooperation with the Mayor's office and City Council, the Rotary Club of Okla. City recognizes an outstanding teacher in our community.
Lena Walker has been a Math teacher at KIPP OKC College Prep, teaching algebra and pre-algebra to 7th and 8th graders for the past 16 years and has been a teacher for 31 years. She has remained in the classroom even though she has been recruited and asked to leave the classroom for leadership roles; Lena stays because her passion is in the classroom and seeing the growth of her students is the best reward or gift a person can receive.
Lena’s recognition for her teaching skills working with some of Oklahoma City’s most challenged students include twice being voted KIPP Reach Teacher of the Year and joining a select group of teachers to receive the Harriett Ball Excellence in Teaching Award, the highest honor a teacher in the KIPP Charter School National network of 200 plus schools can achieve for their work in the classroom.
Her teaching style is based on kinesthetic learning where students engage in the learning process through the use of movement, testing, trial and error and a non-traditional learning environment to help them retain and recall information. This teaching style has allowed her students to consistently score in the top percentile of the NWEA MAP Growth assessment.
Lena is active in her community and her church—she serves as a children’s Sunday school teacher and vacation bible school coordinator, and her personal pride is being a 200 plus blood platelet donor with the Oklahoma Blood Institute.
