Poplar Bluff High School biology teacher earns statewide honor

Poplar Bluff educator Gretchen Pendley won the 2019 outstanding biology teacher award for the state of Missouri through the National Association of Biology Teachers and PB Assistant Principal Sheldon Tyler agrees with the decision.

Pendley is one of those teachers students will remember all their lives, Tyler said.

“I’m extremely excited for her and her love and knowledge of biology is infectious,” said Tyler explaining he went along on one of her field trips to Dauphin Island, Ala. Tyler recounts he became “engulfed in the lessons. She is very well deserving of the award.” He expects the students will remember the concepts she’s taught them the rest of their lives.

Poplar Bluff High School teacher Gretchen Pendley shows a specimen during a field trip to Dauphin Island, Ala. Photo provided

State director of the OBTA program, Ryan Lacson, traveled Wednesday from the greater Springfield area to hand-deliver the prestigious award during a surprise recognition ceremony featuring family, school administrators and faculty colleagues Wednesday at the high school.

A selection committee carefully reviewed all statewide nominees, according to Lacson, who noted that Pendley would receive a special gift package, including customized micropipettes.

Pendley admitted she was shocked.

“I feel so honored to be able to represent our school and our district. A lot of people supported me,” she said.

“The study of biology includes all aspects of human life and the life of our planet,” Pendley said. “I love helping students discover those connections.”

Pendley has taken as many as 15 students on the field trips to Dauphin Island Sea Lab, but she said, “I am hoping the trip will expand.”

Pendley explained a group of teachers at the high school, including Kathy Miller, nominated her for the award. In one of the peer nomination letters Gail Karlish said, “Gretchen’s extensive knowledge of science curriculum, her advanced skills in pedagogy and classroom management, and her mind set of esprit de corps made the transition a very easy one,”

Karlish, the PBHS Science Department chairwoman, was referring to Pendley succeeded herself as leader of the departmental professional learning community per personal recommendation.

Pendley began teaching biology at PBHS in 2014, and was named Secondary Grade-Span Teacher of the Year within just two years. In addition, she has served as an adjunct biology instructor at Three Rivers College, where she was named the 2014 Adjunct Teacher of the Year. Pendley teaches the dual credit classes at the high school and college.

Pendley and her family moved to the area for her husband Brad, who is a wildlife biologist, to work at Mingo Wildlife Refuge. Pendley said, they love the area and “we are very happy to be raising our two kids, who are Poplar Bluff students” in the area.

“She brings new and innovative teaching techniques to her students through using a great variety of computer software and programs like Pear Deck and Eduweblabs,” Karlish continued, “By being an innovator such as in piloting the use of Chromebooks for our school, and writing grants like the one for which she was recently awarded a new type of microscope projector and by teaching students how to navigate through different delivery platforms such as Schoology and Blackboard.”

The OBTA program annually recognizes a single outstanding biology educator, grades 7-12, in every participating state. Last year’s Missouri winner was from Maplewood Richmond Heights High School near St. Louis.

The mission of the National Association of Biology Teachers is to empower educators to provide the best possible biology and life science education for all students, according to its website.

Tim Krakowiak of the Poplar Bluff R-I School District contributed to this article.

______

This story has been updated to correct the title of Assistant Principal Sheldon Tyler.