Elisabeth Javor K-8 Mentoring Award

The annual Elisabeth Javor K-8 Mentoring Award has been established by the California Mathematics Council South Section in memory of Elisabeth Javor. It is to be awarded to the mentor of a K-8 classroom teacher in their first five years of service, and to the teacher being mentored.
The mentor and mentee will each receive:
- One-year complimentary CMC South membership.
- Free fall conference registration (for conference held in early November).
- A complimentary Affiliate Luncheon ticket.
- One-day substitute reimbursement to attend the fall conference.
- Up to $400 to reimburse associated costs of fall conference attendance, including the purchase of educational materials.
Criteria
The mentor must:
- Be a full-time K-8 teacher or support person in a mentoring role
- Identify a mentee: a K-8 classroom teacher in the first five years of service
- Be a CMC member
- Participate in professional mathematics organizations and/or in local, regional, statewide, or national mathematics projects.
Elisabeth Javor was always involved in mathematics education throughout her teaching career. She first served as an elementary teacher for many years at Saticoy Elementary School in the Los Angeles USD, then as a mathematics resource teacher in the Office of Elementary Instruction in LAUSD, and later as a developer of curriculum lessons and calculator activities for fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms. She was also a speaker at local, state, and national conferences. After she retired, she was a mentor for teachers and administrators in LAUSD.
She became involved with the ComMuniCator Editorial Panel in 1985, after which she became a permanent member of the Editorial Panel. She helped to guide its development and growth over the years, contributing more than 25 activities. Her favorite topics were number sense, geometry, and using the calculator to develop problem solving. Each time Elisabeth brought an activity for review, one got a glimpse of what her classroom must have been like for her students?active and filled with explorations, problem-solving opportunities, and lessons that combined mathematics with other curriculum areas. She was a true advocate of mathematics across the curriculum. Elisabeth served a term as CMC-South Secretary, CMC State Treasurer, and the CMC representative to the California Mathematics Project. Elisabeth was also a vital part of the California Breakfast, held each year at the NCTM Annual Meeting; one could always find her encouraging people from California to attend the breakfast. On the morning of the breakfast, Elisabeth would be at the door, greeting people as they arrived and collecting money for the Student Activity Trust Fund.
At the CMC-South Conference, Elisabeth could be found at the ComMuniCator booth (when she wasn't speaking). She always had words of encouragement for teachers looking for new and better ways to teach mathematics, and she especially enjoyed talking to new teachers and giving them words of encouragement. She also had a knack for getting people to volunteer behind the booth, pointing out what a wonderful opportunity it is to work with other CMC people. People always seemed to gravitate toward Elisabeth.
One of her colleagues on the ComMuniCator Editorial Panel summarized Elisabeth with the following statement: "Elisabeth was one of the best examples of what a teacher can be. Beyond the patient, respectful, insightful person our profession demands, Elisabeth really cared. She cared about mathematics, she cared about teachers, she cared about students, and she also deeply cared about understanding." After a long and successful career, Elisabeth passed away in 2007. She was a very special person, and will be missed by all who knew her. This scholarship perpetuates her memory by honoring K-8 mentors, and by encouraging their mentees to continue to grow and become active in their profession.
Ready to apply? Great!
Ready to apply? Great!
- Read the application questions here, then draft your written responses.
- Submit your written responses to this application form by the deadline for each grant or award.