Teachers

KBAY Teacher of the Month

The KBAY Teacher of the Month for June is Debra Leschyn, who teachers U.S. History and Modern World History to special education students at Oak Grove High School in the East Side Union High School District. Debra will receive a $500 Innovation Grant for his classroom from the San José Education Foundation.

“I appreciate the variety that each day brings. I am continually surprised by students and I am inspired by them. I feel so fortunate to have a job where I am being paid to continually keep learning.”

Debra Leschyn has been a teacher at Oak Grove for two years and previously taught for the San Mateo County Office of Education. She is working on her Masters Degree in special education at Notre Dame de Namur University.

Debra will use her SJEF Teacher Innovation Grant to purchase refurbished laptop computers to introduce more technology into her classroom. “Many of my students have specific learning disabilities which interfere with learning. My theory is that using laptop computers to write will increase their productivity and enable them to access software to improve their writing.”

“Oak Grove is a great full service public high school. The student population is diverse and talented. We have great sports teams, a great drama department and an outstanding music department. The students, the teachers and the administrators are wonderful and combine to create a truly great school.”

The greatest challenge Debra faces is to continually adjust and change to better meet her students’ academic needs. This SJEF grant will help Debra meet this challenge.

Congratulations to Debra Leschyn, KBAY’s Teacher of the Month for June.