When a fourth grader was anxious to tackle a computer coding assignment several years ago, teacher Precious Allen went into creative mode and found a way to reframe the work.
“I called him over during recess and asked him, ‘Do you like to play video games?’ Allen said. “I told him, ‘If you can do that, you can code computers’ and explained it was just like giving commands. He ended up being the best computer coder in the class. He trained other students.”
Allen, a Lynwood resident who now teaches second grade at Betty Shabazz Academy, a charter school in Chicago, was recently chosen as a finalist for the 2024 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, one of 30 teachers from throughout the state selected for the recognition.
Math specialist Jordan Martin, who teaches students in kindergarten through fourth grade at Arcadia Elementary School in Olympia Fields, also was chosen as a finalist.
Martin, who lives in Crown Point, Indiana, used to help his younger siblings with their homework and then worked in an afterschool program, in addition to his other teaching jobs.
“I always wanted to be in a role where I could help and mentor others,” he said. “If not a teacher, I would have liked to be a therapist.”
Allen said she strives to create a nurturing and inclusive classroom environment because of her own difficult experiences in school. She described herself as neurodivergent and said she used to stutter constantly, but eventually overcame her speech impediment.
“I just kind of learned by listening to different people from different cultures and I found one that kind of helps me get through what I’m trying to say,” Allen said. “I learned I didn’t stutter when I read books and sang songs, so I tried to change my accent.”
That got her teased a lot, but she persevered and she now can go most of the day without stuttering.
“I think the positive side of it is that it’s probably been the driving force of why I teach the way I do,” she said.
The experience also taught her to be patient with students who are too shy to speak up. She doesn’t force them, instead allowing them to answer questions later to her directly or show their knowledge through creating or building projects.
Music plays in the background of her classes and in December, Christmas lights are sparkling.
Allen also teaches compassion and “community building,” helping her pupils see people in a positive light.
“It teaches them it’s really hard to hurt someone’s feelings when you see the person first,” she said, emphasizing the person over their job or other external factors.
Allen also is a mentor to new teachers at her school, helping them get through their anxieties and encouraging them.
Her longtime mentor, educator Joseph Fatheree, nominated her for the Golden Apple award. She was previously a Cook County Illinois Teacher of the Year finalist.
“She’s the best teacher ever,” said Tylan Winters, 7, one of her students.
“I like when she dresses us up as engineers and doctors,” said Tylan about his teacher’s way of teaching them about what these professionals do.
She also lets them have fun.
“Sometimes she gives us extra recess, she gives us more time to learn, she lets us watch a movie and she lets us talk on the carpet — fun things,” he said.
Though Martin was a math whiz in his early years, he eventually hit a roadblock. That’s helped him reach students.
“It helped me develop a growth mindset that I was able to foster with students,” he said.
Martin also sees math as “foundational and something that leads to a lot of other career opportunities.” He connects it to real life by offering concrete representations.
“We use physical math tools that support their understanding by seeing something visually and kinesthetically — they’re able to touch it and feel it,” he said.
Martin also heads the school’s Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program.
“For me, it’s always been about the relationships with the students,” said Martin. “I like not only the relationships I form with the students but their families as well. It helps me reach the students on a deeper level by forming that personal connection,”
Arcadia Elementary parent Garry Phillips Jr. said Martin has been instrumental in the success of his daughter Kamori Phillips. Kamori was one of Martin’s gifted students last year in third grade, but she was nervous about starting at a new school, after moving first from St. Louis tand then attending a school in Chicago.
Phillips said he was impressed with the time Martin had taken to look over his daughter’s transfer record and academic skills and discuss her abilities with him and his fiancé before the start of school.
“It was important to him (Martin) that Kamori succeeded as well. “He met her where she was,” Phillips said, adding that he noticed the teacher’s influence by how confident his daughter was in completing her assignments.”
Kamori added, “He made learning fun.”
Arcadia principal Stephanie Healy has been similarly impressed by Martin, noting he had started a math masters program at the school.
“I think what strikes me the most is just his creativity, his ingenuity and his willingness to start programs,” she said. “He’s really just an asset to the school.”
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
