Teacher of the Year!

Reading about the recently announced teacher of the year for Baltimore city is inspiring and it helps to show that there are great things happening in our schools. After reading about this year's teacher of the year, I find myself thinking about my own classroom with and my own students with a renewed sense of possibility. 

Despite different titles and the specifics of our teaching positions, we all share many of the same fundamental goals for our students. I was reminded of this when I read that "One of Stokes' chief philosophies is fostering independence and confidence in students, and challenging them to go beyond their comfort zones." I am a high school general education teacher and Ms. Stokes is a middle school special education teacher, but I share these same fundamental goals for my own students.  

I think that recognizing more of the great things that teachers are doing in their classrooms, and sharing out the successes that teachers are having with our students will not only help to inspire us to be better teachers tomorrow than we were today, but it will also help to unite us as professionals that too often operate as islands because we are so much more effective when we come together to share ideas, strategies, and information.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-teacher-of-the-year-20130418,0,4172190.story