Meet Juliana Urtubey, America's Teacher Of The Year

Meet the National Teacher Of The Year Of the United States of America, Juliana Urtubey. This teacher from Las Vegas recently got a surprise visit from The US First Lady Jill Biden.

Urtubey approaches a student holistically and focuses on interests, hobbies, family structure, and community, making her teaching style unique. Here is all you need to know about the teacher who is known for understanding how to find her student's strengths and weaknesses.

Who Is Juliana Urtubey?

• Urtubey is a National Board-certified teacher of America who co-teaches in prekindergarten through 5th-grade special education settings at Booker Elementary School.
• Born in Colombia, Urtubey is a bilingual instructor and teaches many English-language learners.
• She also serves as an instructional strategist at her school who develops supports to meet students’ differing academic, social-emotional, and behavioural needs.
• Urtubey did her bachelor’s in bilingual general education and a master’s degree in bilingual special education from the University of Arizona.
• Juliana Urtubey’s mother was a civil liberties attorney as well as a Spanish teacher, and her father was a music artist who also gave music lessons to students. Later the family moved to Phoenix when she was 7.
• Apart from being the National Teacher Of the Year, JulianaUrtubey also holds the credit of being the Nevada Teacher of the Year in the year 2021.
• She is awarded the title "Ms Earth" after she raised tens of thousands of dollars in grants to beautify her school community with gardens and murals.
• One of the unique styles of her teachings includes using the garden to teach about character and growth mindset.

"Having a thriving school garden made students and families feel welcome, included, and proud of their school community."

• One of her students remarked her as a "fun teacher" in an interview. Joseph Moreno said, "I would describe Ms Urtubey as kind-hearted, all-knowing, fun, yet also sort of serious when it comes to our behaviour". Another student said, "She was a good leader, and she would just teach us things in a different way that other people wouldn’t."
• Urtubey reportedly wants to use her platform as National Teacher of the Year to promote creative ways to strengthen and retain teachers of colour.