December 14, 2021 - Lifting up teachers in the St. Louis region for their amazing work in the classroom is an annual endeavor of the Emerson Corporation. This year, five SSD teachers were among those selected to receive the company’s Excellence in Education Award:

• Mary Glasgow teaches special education students at Brentwood High School. The fresh and innovative ways she demonstrates her commitment to students and special education programming have captured the affections of her school’s community. Glasgow has developed a program in which students raise chickens outside the school - it has been hugely successful in motivating students to master educational standards. The learning experience helps her students gain compassion and responsibility while forging relationships between them and the broader school community.
• Katina Harshbarger is a teacher in the Vocational Skills Program at SSM St. Mary’s Hospital-St. Louis/St. Mary’s Child Center. She conducts her classroom with routines, universal supports, and a culture of respect and rapport. Her practices with data collection, analysis, and student assessment are reflected in students’ steady growth towards independence. She demonstrates solid knowledge of daily living, social skills, and job skills, and is good at modeling the mindfulness and coping strategies she teaches. She creates innovative lessons and sets high standards for student engagement.
• Erin Hemme is an early childhood teacher for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) at Ladue Early Childhood Center. She uses many techniques, including teaching behaviors, diagnostic language instruction, formative data collection, language improvement strategies, planning and instruction, team communication, the intervention pyramid, instructional resources, and an individualized education plan (IEP) goal bank. Structuring IEP goals is a challenging but critical role of the DHH staff, but Hemme has devised a formula to create customized language goals for students using progress monitoring tools, data, and student performance.
• Zachary Jodlowski teaches deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) at Parkway West High School. As both a deaf individual and a teacher of deaf and hard-of-hearing students, he knows what it means to be educated among people with limited hearing ability. He teaches students how to embrace conditions that are not ideal and manage them without getting overly frustrated. Because he knows anxiety can accompany attending a large high school, he helps his students build confidence and self-esteem. As he demonstrates daily, deafness is not an excuse for not participating in school life— it just requires a different way of learning and communicating.
• Megan Tegerdine teaches special education students at SSD’s Ackerman School. Tegerdine inspires students who have struggled to maintain trust in other school environments. She helps them become passionate learners, whether they are with her on campus or learning virtually from home. Parents appreciate her communication skills, love of children, and unwavering dedication to her students’ education and welfare.

A total of 85 teachers from the St. Louis region were selected by Emerson for the award. Teachers each received an engraved crystal apple and were praised for their professional achievements and commitment to education. They now are eligible to apply for Emerson’s Gold Star Grant for projects that benefit education. 

Emerson is a St. Louis-based company specializing in global technology and engineering. A complete list of award recipients is available here.