| Oakridger
The Teacher of the Year program recognizes and honors outstanding teachers in the state. As part of the process, Oak Ridge Schools seeks teacher candidates from each school in the system.
The Tennessee Department of Education staff applauds teachers who care about children, who devote their professional lives to enriching the lives of Tennessee students, and who demonstrate exceptional gains in student achievement, according to an Oak Ridge Schools news release.
Goals of the program are to: promote effective teaching practices by recognizing and rewarding outstanding teachers, engage regional teachers of the year in education policy making through the Teacher Advisory Council, encourage participation by every school in the state so that all Tennessee teachers may be recognized and rewarded, build a network of local and state corporate sponsors, provide a network for teachers to share effective practices, encourage a sense of professionalism in teaching and encourage greater participation in building a strong community-school partnership.
By participating in the Tennessee Teacher of the Year program, educators may: be celebrated and honored for making exceptional gains with students; expand knowledge of education policy and participate in local, state and national policy discussions, serve as spokesperson and advocate for the education profession, receive state and national professional learning opportunities which improves teaching and learning practices, hone public speaking skills, meet and network with other exceptional teachers across the state and build lifelong friendships and professional colleagues and become inducted into an amazing network of statewide awardees, and become connected to an impactful, ongoing body of work that engages you as a professional long after an awardee’s service year, the news release from Oak Ridge Schools stated.
“We would now like to congratulate the school-level winners nominated by their principals and peers for the 2021-2022 application. The biographies of the teachers below are written largely in their own words to provide a window into each candidate’s authenticity and commitment to our students,” stated a news release from the system. Here are the biographies.
Oak Ridge Schools
Preschool:
Kimberly Thornhill
Thornhill reflects that for many students, Pre-K is the initial exposure to school and the world outside their homes and families. She is committed to making the first year of school an excellent experience for her students to encourage a love of education. Thornhill says she makes a practice of meeting students where they are academically, socially and emotionally, and building on these skills through positive interactions and hands-on activities. Through family communication, she ensures that the lessons learned in the classroom are carried over into the home and community, sending weekly newsletters detailing skills learned in class.
Glenwood Elementary: Yi Ching “Kat” Sakovich
Sakovich says being a language learner herself helps her see some of the difficulties that her students face. She reflects that her lessons are rich in curricular content, with small group instruction that provides many opportunities for students to practice their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Sakovich believes learning a language through meaningful content is much more effective than grammar drilling. She uses various educational software tools to encourage students to work independently and collaboratively. Sakovich states, “Students with self-evaluation skills can promote their learning. I encourage students to record themselves reading or speaking after we finish learning together. That way, they can listen to themselves and think about what they can do to improve their English.” Sakovich likes to incorporate small experiments or other activities, because when seeing, touching, and doing, students are more likely to use words to communicate.
Linden Elementary:
Erica Hixson
Hixson’s contributions toward student growth include engaging lessons, knowledge of students, effective modeling, common assessments, and cross-curricular connections. She looks for new ways to keep students excited about learning. For example, while fourth graders learn about Native American history, standards such as analyzing rhythm notation are taught using Native American music while students create drumbeats on a community drum in drum circles. Erica starts each class by singing and reading to her students as a performance model, allowing for introduction to a variety of forms of literature and music styles, and including historical elements of various authors and composers. She says she and her students love the expanse of musical styles and genres they experience over and above curricular expectations.
Willow Brook
Elementary:
Michelle Goethert
Goethert has utilized Oak Ridge Schools AccessOR 1:1 devices and educational tools to meet new learning challenges, especially during the pandemic, beginning with the virtual learning period implemented in March of 2020. Goethert incorporated new learning strategies using multiple educational platforms to deliver music instruction. She provided professional development sessions to colleagues and continues to support them in their digital teaching. She believes that students need basic digital skills to succeed in their PreK-12 education and beyond and has thus re-modeled her music education program to help her music students become tech savvy.
Woodland Elementary: Carol Lawson
Lawson’s first-grade team frequently uses data to determine student needs. They begin with common assessment data to determine what students know prior to instruction so they can differentiate instruction for students based on reading level, as well as phonics and math readiness. Lawson’s whole-group lessons provide grade-level instruction for all students, while meeting individual needs in small groups through extended support activities. Professional Learning Community (PLC) discussions about student data lead to enhancing teaching practices, emphasizing what is working in the classes where students are performing well and what to do for those students who need reteaching. The use of data is integral in Lawson’s practices for ensuring the growth of all Woodland first graders and allows the team to grow together seeing all students in every first grade classroom as “our kids.”
Jefferson Middle School: Alex Goldberg
Goldberg reflects that the way he teaches his students results in growth and learning, and one of his strengths is in generating student-led questioning. He learns who they are as people and tries to understand what they are bringing to the room every day. He pays careful attention to who is quiet or who can’t see, as “Sometimes the quiet ones want to be called on, they just don’t how to participate yet, or they have been ignored for too long.” Goldberg learns about students’ math mistakes and what holds them back from progressing, and uses that to figure out who needs to be pushed or bumped up to another level of math. Goldberg believes in flexibility when it comes to giving students multiple chances, especially struggling learners. If something goes wrong, he is not afraid to admit it and adjust course to ensure students have what they need to succeed.
Robertsville Middle School: Jason Nussbaum
Nussbaum believes that the best place to start is with an understanding that all kids can learn and maintaining a mindset that he is a facilitator of learning. Students must take pride in and have confidence in what they are doing, and when they do not, he guides them to those understandings. Nussbaum reflects that relationships are key to student growth and thinks this is too often overlooked in education. Students need to feel respected, appreciated and loved, and when those needs are met, people will naturally work collaboratively toward positive results. He has seen a lot of personal and student growth over the years with these principles in mind.
Oak Ridge High School: Jeff Miner
Miner says his priority is to build relationships with students, to get to know what they are interested in outside of school, to create intentional connections so they know he cares about them. Classroom management and structured discipline are also important. He has high expectations for students to learn to think for themselves so they can analyze and apply what they know. To ensure maximum growth and mastery of content standards, Miner provides multiple opportunities for reinforcement and reteaching. Students who are willing to learn are rewarded for their efforts, regardless of the time it takes them to get there. Coach Miner says he tries to make learning hands-on and relevant, and that teaching biology lends itself to both of these goals through labs, activities and simulations.
