Nancy Penchev
Nancy Penchev
Fellowship Placement: United States House of Representatives
Hometown: West Park, FL
Nancy Penchev has been a teacher for the last 26 years across both South Carolina and Florida, with the last 14 years being at Scheck Hillel Community School in North Miami Beach, Florida. In the last 14 years, Mrs. Penchev has developed a Social Studies curriculum that integrates STEM activities as well as a coding curriculum for K-5. At her current school, as well as the schools she taught at previously, Mrs. Penchev leads professional development sessions for technology integration, using data to inform and guide instruction, and active engagement in the classroom. Mrs. Penchev can often be found co-teaching along with her peers in K-2 where the classroom teacher covers the Social Studies or Science content and Mrs. Penchev leads the students in a coding or robotics lesson that helps kids show what they know about their learning.
Nancy is active in organizations, such as the International Society for Technology in Education and Future of Education Technology, where she regularly presents ideas and activities her students have done to help other teachers broaden their technology engagement. Nancy’s passion is to help students find their voice and explore their own passions leading her to bring student presenters to ISTE for 10 years. She also created and hosts Girls Building STEAM where she helps girls discover new ways to look at STEM fields through fun and play. Her current semester has been augmented through a Fulbright grant allowing the students to learn about places around the world and compare them to Vietnam. Students and families will be visiting Everglades National Park through this adventure and learning more about becoming an activist in their community, like Marjory Stoneman Douglas who helped save the Everglades.
Education is a valuable commodity for Nancy Penchev, leading her to earn a Bachelors, two Masters, and an Ed Specialist degree. She is always on the lookout for learning opportunities to better her practice and the education she helps provide for her students. Nancy often takes advantage of professional development opportunities from organizations such as Lego, NASA, EdWeb, PBS Learning Media, and more.
