Excellent Educators is a WAVY-TV 10 initiative to celebrate local teachers who have gone above and beyond for their students and communities during the last academic year. These Excellent Educators were nominated by their school divisions. Congratulations to these educators for all of their hard work and accomplishments!
Name: Deborah Armentrout
Division: Gloucester County Public Schools
Position: First grade teacher at Archilles Elementary School
What the school division said about this Excellent Educator: Deborah Armentrout exemplifies dedication and devotion to the teaching profession and our community. Over the years, she’s provided exemplar learning experiences to students inside and outside of her classroom.
She has created a whole curriculum and guided science series to promote students’ understanding of the needs of the Chesapeake Bay in our school-wide Bay Days program. This required her to find grant funding to build separate learning tubs for each classroom.
She has also worked with our community to design and implement an Eastern Woodland Native American and Virginia Agricultural Products Garden that enables our students to receive hands-on learning in native plants that were common in Native American gardens and that were used as products.
In the past, she has received donations of bird feeders and bird baths so that students may observe their natural behaviors. This year, she secured a donation of six redbud trees, which were planted to represent each grade level.
She does each of these activities in addition to her teaching responsibilities. She also remediates students before school for our Morning Warriors program. As one of her colleagues aptly stated, “Debbie is a very devoted teacher. She goes above and beyond for her students. She allows her students to explore and learn in their own ways, while fostering a love for learning. Debbie embodies all the qualities of a great teacher by being devoted, flexible, and caring.”
