Ami Abreu is our Teacher of the Year! 

Congratulations to Dr. Ami Abreu for being selected as the 2024-2025 PES Teacher of the Year! Dr. Abreu is an ESOL teacher (English as a Second Language). She also serves as our MTSS Behavior Lead (Multi-Tiered System of Support). Let's hear from Dr. Abreu:

Hello, everyone! My name is Dr. Ami Abreu and I am honored and excited to be Parsons’ Teacher of the Year! This year, I am teaching ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages), and I am the school’s Behavior Support Lead teacher.  Let me tell you a little bit about myself! I am an avid traveler and have visited 22 countries. As a child, I lived in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, China, and the Dominican Republic. My favorite subject in school was Geography… makes sense, right? I speak Spanish and I love learning words and phrases in different languages from my students!

I am passionate about creating equitable learning experiences for newcomers and historically marginalized populations by honoring each individual student’s strengths and experiences. I believe that before a student can learn, they must feel safe and valued which is why I promote empathy, open-mindedness, and highlight how our differences make us stronger in the classroom. By employing an asset-based mindset, I strongly believe that cultural diversity, linguistic diversity and neuro-diversity are assets to student learning rather than barriers. 

I hold a Bachelor’s Degree from Mount Holyoke College in Cultural Anthropology, a Master’s in Teaching, and a Doctorate in Global Education from the University of Southern California. I bring 16 years of teaching experience to the classroom. During this time, I have taught in Georgia, Florida, and the Dominican Republic. I have spent most of my teaching career in Special Education and recently began teaching ESOL, which I love as much as SPED!

My classroom motto is, “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities: Together we learn, together we grow!”