Passionate, dedicated and talented. That's how Brenda Beyal's colleagues described her on Monday when she was named by the U.S. Department of Education as Utah's American Star teacher.

In a surprise ceremony at Rees Elementary in Spanish Fork on Monday, Beyal received the award for success in raising student achievement and implementing the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Beyal teaches third through fifth grades in a multi-age classroom at Rees Elementary and has been at the school for 24 years. She grew up on a Navajo reservation and spends her summers teaching summer school through a federal American Indian education program.

A news release issued by the Department of Education said the awards were meant to emphasize that No Child Left Behind is working.

"I think good teachers who are innovative, who are always concerned about their children, have all along left no children behind," Beyal said after receiving the award.

Eileen Quintana, director of American Indian education for Nebo School District, presented Beyal with a Navajo blanket for her accomplishments.

"Brenda is so passionate," she said. "She has a talent in being able to reach kids and teaching them."

Beyal helped organize the Title VII summer school program, and she has spent her summers for the past seven years teaching children about their heritage and helping increase the district's American Indian graduation rate from 37 percent to 94 percent, Quintana said.

Beyal has used beading and weaving to teach math, and the drawings on teepees to teach history, Quintana said.

"She uses that traditional wisdom and shows Native American kids how to tap into that and how to make their studies come alive," Quintana said.

Beyal is part of a four-person team that teaches the multi-age class. The four are great friends and share the same philosophies on teaching, Beyal said.

"First and foremost, we always have the child in mind," Beyal said. " 'What can we do to help him or her be a better person, be a better citizen, just be a better learnerfi' We try to make an impact on all areas of their lives."

Beyal said No Child Left Behind can be misinterpreted as leaving no room for teaching about the arts, but she believes the arts are a critical element of education.

"The arts teach creativity," she said. "The arts teach how to solve problems."

Learning a dance or learning about visual art helps teach children to be more introspective, she said.

"It helps them to be more cognizant of what they're about, and in turn, I think that helps them with progressing with their learning," she said.

She said her heritage may be responsible for her broad outlook on education. "It's important to teach the whole child, not just bits and pieces of them," Beyal said.

Beyal's husband, Anthony, said she loves teaching and makes sure their daughter, Kimberly, 8, reads and knows how important education is.

"All summer long they've been reading," he said. "Reading is always important to her. She makes me read, too."

Chris Roberts, one of Beyal's colleagues, said she is dedicated to the craft of teaching.

"She wants to be the best teacher possible, and that's what she works at," Roberts said. "She has a very, very inventive mind -- super creative. She's always coming up with better ideas for how to teach kids."

Beyal does a lot of behind-the-scenes work, such as writing a grant for the annual artist-in-residence program, from which she's received funds for the past five years, Roberts said.

"She connects with her students, and she's very personal with them," Roberts said. "Being raised on a reservation by grandparents in a Navajo way gives her uniqueness, and she shares that with the students. She has lots of stories to tell them. She can relate lessons she's learned from her grandfather to lessons in character education."

Fellow teacher Jeff Ballard said Beyal is always looking for new ideas.

"She comes in the morning and says, 'I've got this great idea, and it's new and it's fresh,' " he said. "It's always new for her. I think kids feel that."

Anna Chang-Yen can be reached at 344-2549 or annac@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.