Mark Winans is the band director at Mountainside Middle School. He also teaches band at Anasazi Elementary and Laguna Elementary. This is Winans’ 38th year of teaching, and his 28th year teaching in Scottsdale Unified.

Winans is an Arizona native who grew up in Yuma and Casa Grande. He... Read more

Sophia Youngman teaches kindergarten at Loma Linda Elementary. She has been there four years.

Youngman is a native of the Lone Star State. She was born in Carrollton, Texas. Her mom grew up in Arizona, and Youngman moved to the Valley to be close to family, she says.

When she was a... Read more

Kristy Pownall teaches fifth grade at Hidden Hills Elementary. She has been in the classroom for 23 years, teaching for 18.

Pownall has also taught second and third, as well as sixth and even ninth grades. “I’ve taught fifth grade the longest, this is year 13,” she reports.

She... Read more

Josh Edwards has been teaching in the Chandler Unified District for a decade—he recently began his 11th year at a new school, Andersen Jr. High School. He has taught eighth grade general science, engineering, gifted mathematics and gifted science classes in the distwrict.

Edwards is an... Read more

Amanda Goossen teaches fourth grade at Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic School. She teaches reading, language arts and social studies. Goossen loves working with her teaching partner, Angela Locher, and classroom assistants Charlene Mills and Theresa Mansour.

“We truly spend our... Read more

Congratulations to the Valley teachers recognized during the 2023–24 school year. We appreciate all that you do for the kids in Arizona!

Thank you to all the students, parents and others who nominated an outstanding teacher. Send in a nomination today and your teacher could be... Read more

Sydney Toups teaches second grade at Union Park School. She teaches the English side of a Spanish Immersion class for two groups of students, instructing them in reading, writing and social studies.

This fall marks her 10th year in the Deer Valley School District and her fifth year... Read more

 Lacey Ellis has been teaching for nearly 29 years. She teaches first grade at Mesquite Elementary. Ellis is an Arizona native. She was born and raised in the Valley and went to school in Gilbert, and so did her two kids! While Ellis says she often played school as a little kid, it was not until... Read more

Stefanie Galler teaches fifth grade at Paseo Verde Elementary. She has been a teacher for 24 years and has taught K–2 and 4–6 grades.

Galler was born in Indiana, but moved here with her family when she was a kid. She had a brother and sister with asthma, she explains, so they moved to... Read more

Brittany Weatherill teaches fourth grade at Tarwater Elementary. This is her sixth year teaching and her second year at Tarwater.

Weatherill really enjoys where she is now because “the students in fourth grade just have an energy,” she explains. “They make everything fun and they are so... Read more