The Commons article

The Commons, an independent newspaper in Windham County in southern Vermont, published excerpts from the four student winners from Bellows Falls Union High School's Literary Kick Off Student Essay Competition.

The four winning students were: Jonah Bolotin, Tori Bissell, Rachel Greenberg, and Hayden Noyes.

Each student wrote about how Loung Ung's First They Killed My Father impacted them as students in Vermont and why it is important to read Loung's story.

The students were rewarded with a signed copy of Loung Ung's second book, Lucky Child, and got to have dinner with Loung Ung.

Congratulations Jonah, Tori, Rachel, and Hayden!

Read The Commons article here.

UVM Outstanding Teacher Day

Congratulations to all of all of the Vermont teachers who were honored this afternoon at the UVM Outstanding Teacher Day. The University of Vermont hosts this event annually in celebration of all the Teachers of the Year from each district throughout the state. Held in the beautiful Ira Allen Chapel on UVM's campus, the ceremony was a wonderful celebration of teachers, chaired by Dr. Faynese Miller, Dean, College of Education and Social Services and State Board of Education Chair.

Sen. Bernie Sanders was on hand to offer up his congratulations to all of the deserving teachers who were being recognized, as well as to highlight what a great job Vermont teachers are doing nationally with their students.

I had the honor of being the keynote speaker at this great event, and it was inspiring to be able to meet and speak with so many of Vermont's finest educators.

What a great event. Thank you to the University of Vermont, and congratulations to all of the 2010 Outstanding Teachers who were recognized today for all of their hard work and devotion to teaching.

Smithsonian's SHOUT! project

I took part in an online brainstorming session for teachers this afternoon for Smithsonian Education's new SHOUT! project. Shout invites educators and students to take an active role in global environmental issues. In the field and online, teachers and students can interact with experts, share ideas, and collaborate with people around the world committed to solving environmental challenges.

Shout is a partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, Microsoft Partners in Learning, and Taking It Global.

This is an exciting opportunity for not only science-based classes, but also for any teachers looking to add a science component to their cross-curricular units, and it offers up great project-based connections.

Check out the website to find out more about the new Shout project.

Digital Video Project in NYC

On Monday, the Teachers of the Year were in New York City with the Pearson Foundation working on creating videos for the Digital Video Project. We were asked to film and edit short videos on the topic of "Why I Teach." You may think this would be an easy topic for teachers, but it was difficult to say everything you want to in under two minutes. I had a script written, but we were encouraged to record it off the cuff as it would capture our passion and emotion much better. After three takes and hours of editing, I was really excited with how it came out. All of our videos will be posted on the Pearson Foundation website, and I'll put a link to it here when they are uploaded and ready to be viewed. Hopefully these videos will inspire future teachers who are thinking of entering the profession!

Cheers!

National Teacher Forum -- Day 3

We heard from two more incredible teachers and leaders this morning:

Mary Beth Blegen (1996 National TOY - from Minnesota)
Sarah Brown Wessling (2010 National TOY - from Iowa)

All I can say is WOW! These two women are so passionate about teaching, and are such powerful voices in the profession. Getting to know them, as well as the other state and national Teachers of the Year, has been the best part of this experience because I have come away with such a positive outlook on teaching and education in this country because these incredibly creative and determined people are in every state. Education in the US is in good hands and it will improve with these people taking leadership roles and leading teaching and America's schools into a new era.

In the afternoon, we went into the town of Princeton and I got the chance to walk around Princeton University. An absolutely beautiful campus with such a rich history and tradition, but what those old brick buildings taught me in my short afternoon stroll was that I never want to stop learning. I am a lifelong learner. Learning is fun and exciting and I wished for this afternoon that I was a student at Princeton, which made me think of the incredible professors that these students have in their courses -- true masters in their fields. Tying it together, I want to keep learning better ways to make my classroom, and the learning it it, more fun and exciting, so my students have this same attitude about learning.

Next it is off to New York City for the second part of our conference!

Cheers!

Teacher of the Year cookbook

Kevin Grover, the 2010 Maine Teacher of the Year, compiled favorite recipes from the states of all the Teachers of the Year, and put them online, so check them out:

http://ntoycookbook.wikispaces.com/

National Teacher Forum -- Day 2

We had the honor to hear from three National Teachers of the Year today:

Michele Forman - 2001 NTOY (from Vermont!)
Betsy Rogers - 2003 NTOY (from Alabama)
Mike Geisen - 2008 NTOY (from Oregon)

All three spoke about what direction they took in their professional lives after their year as Teacher of the Year. What I am finding out is that I am not alone when it comes to question what to do next after this. All of us want to reach the most people and influence and advocate for education and teachers the most, but how do we do that? Some are thinking of working in educational policy, some of being a consultant, some a university professor, some working in their state Dept. of Ed., and some going back to their classroom. Each of these former Teachers of the Year took different paths and followed their passion, and it caused us to start think about what we want to do next. For me, that is still completely unknown, but I'm sure it will make itself known to me somehow.

We then had an amazing dinner/wine tasting at Rats Restaurant in Hamilton, NJ, an incredibly nice restaurant with a sculpture park on its grounds. The Grounds for Sculpture included very unique works, included several Manet and Renoir paintings brought to 3-D through sculpture, and the dinner was phenomenal!

Cheers!

National Teacher Forum in Princeton, NJ

I am currently in Princeton, NJ at the National Teacher Forum for all of the 2010 Teachers of the Year from throughout the country. The goal of the conference, which is being held at ETS' campus in Princeton, is for us to reflect on the experiences we have had this year as Teachers of the Year and to plan how we will continue to have an influence in our school, district, community, and state even after our "reign" ends. We can continue to be strong advocates for teachers and our profession, and we are learning strategies on how to be educational leaders in our states. This is also the last time all of us Teachers of the Year will be together, so it is definitely sad to know that I won't be around these energetic, positive, and passionate people again, but we will stay in touch via a ning we have created, as well as other social networks.

One of the mentors for us at this conference is Michele Forman, the 2001 Vermont Teacher of the Year, and the 2001 NATIONAL Teacher of the Year -- the only time a Vermont teacher has been honored with this recognition! I met Michele for the first time last night and she is such a strong advocate for teaching. Michele teaches World History at Middlebury Union High School and has done some revolutionary things with World History in her classroom and in the state. It was an honor to meet Michele, and it will be great to work with her over the next couple of days.

Cheers!