2 finalists for Arizona’s top teacher from same Deer Valley Unified school

By Steve Stockmar
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Something is definitely going on in the Boulder Creek High School history department. The Arizona Educational Foundation sure says so.

The AEF announced the 10 semifinalists out of 625 statewide nominations vying for the Foundation’s Teacher of the Year honor, and two of those semifinalists hail from the same history department at the same Deer Valley Unified School District campus in Anthem in north Phoenix.

Emmett Burnton, an AP World History teacher, and Ryan Donovan, who teaches AP U.S. History, have made the cut to this point.

The two worked together on the Arizona Educational Foundation submission process back in June, they have weekly meetings about curriculum, and adding to the fun they’re close pals. Burton even attended Donovan’s wedding.

“After we both found out (about being semifinalists) the same day, my wife and I and our two kids met up with Emmett and his girlfriend for dinner and we celebrated together,” Donovan said. “It's cool to be doing this with a really close friend and trying to navigate this. This process together has been an experience I'll definitely never forget.”

They and the other nominees will learn who is selected with the top honor when the Arizona Educational Foundation hosts its annual banquet on Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Madison Center for the Arts in Phoenix. Five quarterfinalists received honorable mention plus an automatic nomination for next year, and the 10 semifinalists advance to an in-person interview round this month with the selection committee.

“We’ve doubled our chances,” Burnton said. “It was a really cool moment to share. Both of us anxiously waiting. He’s a rock star.”

Donovan is in his 10th year as a teacher, nine with Deer Valley Unified. He expands on the memorization of dates and places critical to history in his classroom where it’s also about profiling other difference-makers to connect with students, he says.

“They can start to see themselves and identify themselves with these people who are driving change without necessarily having to be an elected politician,” Donovan said. “It's nice to throw in new examples of people that maybe are from the state of Arizona. It helps to widen their perspective about how much change is driven by citizens themselves.”

Burnton’s educational journey has come full circle.

As a high school student, in his own words, he “hated history.” Now, as an AP World History teacher at Boulder Creek since 2015, the 30-year-old sees things from the other side.

“I didn’t get what was relevant to it or anything like that,” he said, looking back at his perspective on history when he was a teenager. “It took until college that I started really reflecting on who I am and society as a whole and why is the world the way it is. Once those connections were about history and I saw that we could trace it back, I really became fascinated in it.”

Burnton also embraces teaching’s advancing technology. He served on Boulder Creek’s AI committee a year ago, and just in that time he is seeing students step back from AI’s early perceived “shortcuts” to use its potential more broadly.

“It’s finding a nice equilibrium of when it is a tool to help you versus to replace you,” he said. “I think the AI bubble is partially bursting when you see how many corporations are going back to the way things were a year ago. And once my students see that, that it’s not this ‘savior,’ they find a really nice medium and use of it.”

With a class full of students living in the internet age and all of the inconsistencies surrounding online information, Donovan focuses not just on content itself but the importance of how to learn.

“One of the skills that we develop throughout the year is called ‘assessing validity’,” he said. “We look at primary sources, we compare them to each other, we look at secondary sources, and then we have this wide range of different perspectives and evidence, and then that's where we draw conclusions.”

Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment YourValley.net

sstockmar@iniusa.org

Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.

Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.

Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.

Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.

Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.