Her Story
Michelle Pearson grew up with parents who kept a travel guidebook in the glovebox and volunteered in their community. At 13 she was already a docent at the Smithsonian alongside her mother. Torn between becoming a park ranger, a historian or a preservationist, she realized teaching would let her do all three for young people. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Mary Washington in 1992 and is working on a master’s in history technology instruction at Walden University.
She began in 1992 teaching 5th grade at Woodland Academy, then taught K-8 technology for ten years for the Archdiocese of Denver’s Catholic schools. Since 2005 she has taught 8th-grade social studies in the Adams 12 Five Star Schools, nine years of it at Century Middle School. She was Colorado Teacher of the Year in 2011 and received the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher of Humanities Award, White House Historical Association fellowships for pre-collegiate teachers, and National History Honors awards from the History Channel’s Save Our History program. Her superintendent says she “stands head and shoulders above her colleagues.”
Beyond the Classroom
In 2007 Pearson co-founded the Preserve America Youth Summit, a free program for teens ages 13 to 18 on history, archaeology, heritage tourism, policy and preservation. It has served more than 1,500 students and teachers and launched over 40 alumni into heritage careers. Summit students have helped shape a portion of the federal Great Outdoors Act and several Colorado resolutions. Her own students have helped design a new state museum and six National Park Junior Ranger programs, and have won a $10,000 History Channel grant to build 12 exhibits with local veterans for a veterans museum.
As Colorado Teacher of the Year she spent more than 200 hours helping revise state teacher evaluation standards, helping cut the rubric from 177 elements to 93. She has served on the state social studies standards team for 18 years, and she is a master trainer in the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, with 150-plus workshops over 20 years. In her volunteer work in Broomfield she has served on the landmark board, library board and Crescent Grange board and has helped raise over $6.3 million to preserve historic sites. With her students she has designated local landmarks, including the Broomfield Crescent Grange.
Philosophy Into Practice
Pearson teaches that “places are a primary source,” and her students work with documents, artifacts and local historic sites. At the start of each unit, students help dissect the standards and write parts of the rubric, and every large unit offers at least two ways to demonstrate learning, such as a museum-quality visual timeline or an audio podcast on a little-known regional story, graded on both content and workforce-readiness skills.
Her “Lunch Bunch” began as an answer to the school’s tutoring requirement. Her students called tutoring a chore, so they redesigned it as an “academic playspace” with Legos, K’Nex, STEM challenges and book groups at lunch. It has run four days a week for eight years, other teachers now host their own, and her principal describes students who find in her room “a safe haven.”
“Just like documents, places are a primary source.”Michelle Pearson
In Her Own Words
“I want students to leave my room with a sense of community, with the desire to not just be a citizen but to act and advocate like one.”Michelle Pearson
“My expectation to those who come is simple: everyone in the room is a friend and thought partner, and you will be working and sharing a meal together.”Michelle Pearson, on Lunch Bunch
“In my classroom, I don’t believe in “can’t do” but rather a “can do” attitude.”Michelle Pearson
What Others Said
“Michelle Pearson stands head and shoulders above her colleagues and is most deserving of induction into the National Teacher Hall of Fame.”Chris Gdowski, superintendent, Adams 12 Five Star Schools
“Students have her classroom as a safe haven and learning spot with her Lunch Bunch.”Kristin Devlin Vollmar, principal, Century Middle School
“Our program’s success is directly connected to our long-standing collaborations with Ms. Pearson and her deep commitment to the educational community.”Keith Patterson, director, Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources, Western Region
“She rarely speaks of herself and the accolades she has received, she is always focused on others and their success and a project at hand.”Zachary Blazek, former student