At the time of this award, Bonnie Robb was teaching at Clark Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, where English is a second language for many students, pioneering innovative techniques to help all of her students learn in their own best way. Using a unique visual teaching method that acknowledged the neurobiological learning system of each child to build language function, Robb helped 96 percent of her students meet or exceed benchmarks in reading, writing and math each year, including all of her English Language Learners (ELLs). Her success with these teaching strategies led her to co-author an article in ESL Magazine as well as a teaching manual titled "Make It Visual in the Classroom". She has also presented on the subject at the city, state, and national level. Robb has been a math facilitator for the Portland Public Schools and a member of its adoption committee for the K-5 literacy core curriculum. She was a master teacher in the Portland Public Schools Beginning Teacher Mentor Program and wrote and received a grant for teacher training from the Portland Schools Foundation. Educators from throughout the country visit Robb's classroom to observe her teaching, including many student teachers from the University of Portland. She was instrumental in helping the school earn an Excellence in Education Award from the Portland Schools Foundation a record-breaking five times. The school also won a 2006 State of Oregon Closing the Gap Award and an "exceptional" rating on the state report card. After becoming a Milken Educator, she was honored in 2011 as a Kappa Delta Pi Teacher of Honor. Currently she is teaching first grade by day and adults by night as an adjunct faculty member of the University of Portland's School of Education, where she received the "Difference Award" in 2018 for her work with student athletes.
1995 1995 University of Portland, B.A.
2001 University of Portland, M.Ed
