Amanda Girdler is a 5th Grade Math and Science teacher at Taft Elementary, OKCPS, where she has been teaching for 5 years. She holds an Associate degree in Physical Education from Crowder College, Bachelor of Arts in General Studies from Missouri Southern State University and Master’s  degree in Higher Education from the University of Oklahoma.
 
Amanda believes feedback is key to teaching students – she collects feedback from her students on lessons planned, their performance, and how they feel about a concept or subject matter. She says education is the most meaningful social justice work that there is, and it requires love, forgiveness, and humility.
 
Amanda contributes to the community through education in many ways in including: Voices Organized in Civic Engagement (VOICE), a group working to inform the public on candidates for public office as well as working to enact legislation that is centered on justice and equity; she is the math team lead and a mentor teacher for first-year teachers at Taft; she started both a basketball and football team at her previous school and currently coaches basketball and football. She serves as a Sunday school teacher at her church.

Amanda was presented the “Love’s Teacher of the Month Award” in September 2018 and was selected as first runner up for OKCPS Teacher of the Year for 2020 at the virtual event held in Aug. 2020. She is also a Google-certified educator.