Meet an Excellence in Teaching Awards Educator: Keanna Mikell

June 24, 2026

We’re featuring some of the educators who were recognized with 2025 Excellence in Teaching Awards for making a significant impact on students’ academic growth.

Keanna Mikell is a second-grade math teacher at Meeting Street Elementary & Middle – Brentwood and has been teaching there for three years. She won the Award for her working during the 2025-26 school year. Her students’ Magnitude of Growth in math was 1.32, which means they grew 32 percent more than expected in one academic year. This school year, her students’ Magnitude of Growth in math was 1.51, which means they grew 51 percent more than expected.

Can you share an example of a success story you experienced with a student and how it came to be?

My first year at Brentwood, we unexpectedly had to split a classroom midyear. With this, I gained a student who struggled with reading and math. She would cry when we learned a new skill or if she was called on too many times during reading. However, I refused to let her give up. I would remind her every day that she COULD do whatever she put her mind to. By the end of the year, she would willingly volunteer to read from the board and would try in math before asking for help and saying it was too hard. Fast forward, she is now in fourth grade excelling. I help her with schoolwork when needed, she has been a part of my step team the last two years and I have a great relationship with her and her family to this day.

How do you balance academic rigor with ensuring that students enjoy the learning process?

I try to make learning as fun as possible. I randomly burst out in song or dance at any moment of the day. Jokes and sarcasm are second nature in any classroom that I’m in. Anything to put a smile on my students’ faces even, if only for a few seconds. But I also remind them constantly that learning is hard, and just because a concept is hard right now doesn’t mean it always will be. That being said, I try to enforce that failing is a part of learning and life. I let them try and fail as many times as necessary. That way, when they finally succeed, they know it’s because they worked for it and not because I lowered the bar.

How do you tailor your teaching methods to meet the diverse needs of your students?

In order to meet student needs, I adapt skill by skill. I like to see what can be done first and then adjust from there so that I’m not making assumptions on what certain students can or can’t attain as of yet. Sometimes I use visuals, songs, labels, quirky sayings or even movement. I’ve found some methods work better for some skills than others so my response to their needs changes regularly. 

What factors have contributed to your success in the classroom?

I would attribute my success in the classroom to the professionals around me. I’ve had hands-on co-teachers who were eager to help even though math wasn’t their area of expertise. Other coworkers and leadership also have always been there to support me, whether academically or personally, so that I can show up my best every day.