2019 National teacher of the year finalists

The 2019 National Teacher of the Year To Be Announced

Teacher of the Year is desirable recognition that only a few teachers ever receive. This year, we recognize the immense success of all teacher candidates and wish to spread their accomplishments to our fellow educators.

Every year, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, choose the National Teacher of the Year from their pool of State Teachers of the Year.

Last year, Mandy Manning, originally of  of El Paso, Texas, was named National Teacher of the Year. In this brief EducationWeek video, she discusses the importance of fighting for immigrant youth and the empowerment of all students.

The CCSSO has chosen four finalists for their 2019 Teacher of the Year award:

  • Donna Gradel, the 2019 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, is a high school science teacher that encourages students to  “discover ways they can improve their local environment, including helping their city to develop and implement sustainable solutions to improve the water quality and natural habitats of the city’s waterways.”
  • Kelly Harper, the 2019 District of Columbia Teacher of the Year, is a 3rd grade teacher who helps her students “work on advocacy projects throughout the year, even going so far as meeting with members of Congress in the U.S. Capitol Building.”
  • Danielle Riha, the 2019 Alaska Teacher of the Year, is a middle school teacher who “has learned from Yup’ik Elders how to incorporate indigenous knowledge … in a culturally infused curriculum with her students at the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School that she helped open to increase opportunities for students to connect to their identity and community.”
  • Rodney Robinson, the 2019 Virginia Teacher of the Year, teaches “social studies in a juvenile detention facility, creates a positive school culture by empowering his students – many of whom have experienced trauma — to become civically-minded social advocates who use their skills and voices to affect physical and policy changes at their school.”

We are eager to see who will be awarded the coveted title of the 2019 National Teacher of the Year!

Published by

TWIN-CS

TWIN-CS advances the Catholic tradition of academic excellence by empowering Catholic schools to systematically transform from a monolingual to multilingual educational model in the service of vibrant culturally diverse populations.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *