Each year, individual schools across the District honor one of their teachers as the school’s Teacher of the Year. These teachers are entered into the District’s Teacher of the Year program. The top eight teachers in the District are then interviewed by a District-based committee composed of past Teachers of the Year, District administrators, union representatives, parent leaders and community members – and it’s that committee that selects Broward’s top teacher.
The Broward County Public School District were honored the “Best of the Best” at its 2009 Teacher of the Year event on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at the Broward County Convention Center.
2009 TEACHER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
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As the Media Specialist at Virginia Shuman Young Elementary (VSY), Jennifer Narkier works to create a reading culture by teaching students how to read and learn -- inspiring students who don’t read to read, and motivating students to read more challenging, varied and well-written books. One of her goals is to establish a warm, welcoming environment so that all students who use the media center have successful experiences. She promotes positive reading experiences, provides multiple reading opportunities and encourages participation in a variety of reading programs.
Narkier believes that shared collaboration between teachers, students and parents is paramount to students’ success. Parents frequent the media center both as users and volunteers. A familiar sight in the morning is a parent and child reading together on a beanbag chair in the reading area.
Under Narkier’s direction, the media center has become the heartbeat of the school. Students participate in extended classroom lessons that range from the subtropics to the arctic, prehistoric time to future space travel, exploration to the forming of a nation or anywhere in between. Ask any VSY student or parent about the their relationship with Narkier and they will respond with a smile as they describe a partnership in learning that is student-oriented, parent-friendly, enthusiastic, energetic and motivating.
Narkier has 14 years of teaching experience and holds National Board Certification in Early Childhood through Young Adult Library Media.
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With 31 years of experience, Dr. Linda Jackson-Lockhart serves the District as an Adult Basic Education/ General Equivalency Diploma (ABE/GED) teacher for Community Schools South. She is known as a teacher who shares her thirst for learning and establishes a “you can do it” attitude in her students. She greets each new group of students by saying, “if you truly want to learn, you’ve come to the right place.”
Since many of Jackson-Lockhart’s students make sacrifices to come to class -- working night shifts, maintaining homes and families -- she believes it is her responsibility to use every resource to assist them in attaining their high school diplomas. While it is her goal that each student attain a GED, she knows that not every student will attain one. She goes out of her way to counsel those students and explores other options available through the District for a person without a high school diploma.
Jackson-Lockhart has a relentless drive to encourage students to pursue academic excellence. She says that the one facet of teaching in the GED program of which she is most proud is that GED exams do an excellent job of integrating all the core subjects, bridged under reading concepts, and requiring students to analyze, apply and synthesize data and historical facts with relevant current events.
Jackson-Lockhart received a Juris Doctorate degree from Nova University. |
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Dr. Lisa Ventry Milenkovic, an elementary science teacher at Eagle Point Elementary School, strives to instill a lifelong love of learning and a sense of wonder about the world in her students, while giving them the ability to apply critical thinking skills in exploration and inquiry.
Milenkovic strongly believes in students having hands-on learning experiences. To initiate students’ interest in science, upon entering Milenkovic’s classroom, students enroll in the SLEUTH Academy. She created the academy as a learning community for interactive science education, combining classroom guided inquiry with a Web site for home learning www.sleuthacademy.org. SLEUTH is an acronym for Seek, Learn, Experiment, Understand and Think.
Technology is woven into almost all of Milenkovic’s lessons. In one experiment, students used temperature probes interfaced to laptops to compare the heat energy given off by an incandescent lamp to that of a compact fluorescent lamp. The results of the experiment were used to fuel a discussion about energy and its relationship to global warming. Science and literacy are also intertwined in every lesson. In one lesson, Milenkovic challenged her students to investigate the insulators and conductors by solving the “Goldilocks Dilemma” – why Mama Bear’s porridge was too cold, while Baby Bear’s was just right.
Milenkovic has 10 years of teaching experience, including six years of teaching at the college level. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Northeastern University in 1990. |
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Andrew J. Kimmel, a Language Arts teacher at Forest Glen Middle School, believes that educating young minds is one of the most important and demanding jobs in society. An educator for 23 years, he establishes academic and character expectations for his students, but his sense of humor is widely known among students. He uses humor to make students feel comfortable in his classroom.
Kimmel has created an exemplary teacher Web site called Kimmel’s Korner www.kimmelskorner.com that is unlike most teacher Web sites on the Internet. Throughout the year, students are required to complete various tasks by going to specific locations on the Web site. The page also features homework listings and activity pages which students and parents can use together. The site reinforces reading and writing skills taught in class and provides links to highly recommended Web sites. To ensure that students find the site enjoyable, it is filled with animations and music. A companion Web site, Mr. K’s QUIA Web Page enables Kimmel to assess students with personally written online tests based on the Language Arts curriculum.
He believes in emphasizing the “arts” in Language Arts, including comedy, drama, film, mass media and public speaking, because they are part of a well-rounded Language Arts education. Doc Kimmel’s Writing Clinic, another of Kimmel’s innovative teaching programs, is a continuing, interactive drama series that utilizes Hyperstudio software. The series consists of eight episodes, each exploring a different aspect of writing.
Kimmel serves as Forest Glen Middle School’s Language Arts Department Chair. |
Davien P. Fernandes-Jones, a Social Science teacher at Hallandale High School, feels that educators have a responsibility to nurture the spirit of intellectual curiosity within students so they develop the capacity to become academic explorers who learn how to think, instead of what to think. His goal is to utilize teaching strategies that foster true academic engagement. He believes that many educators are afraid to give up their power as “imparters of knowledge,” but by doing so, they could foster students who are engaged in learning. He believes that all children have different abilities and strengths and that they want to learn and want to be inspired.
Fernandes-Jones understands how important it is for students to have modern technological skills. Every course he teaches has an online component and in a school where many students do not have an E-mail address, his students customize Web pages and review the course syllabus on Google.com.
As an academy leader of the Urban Teacher Academy Program, Fernandes-Jones teaches young people how to be tomorrow’s teachers. He observes the students as they teach in elementary and high school settings, provides feedback, reviews their data and helps them improve in critical areas.
Fernandes-Jones knows the importance of parental involvement in the academic success of students. He does all he can to strengthen home-school relationships and communication -- even providing his personal cell phone number to parents.
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Dr. Helena Yeaman, a Political Science and Economics teacher at the College Academy at Broward Community College, collaborates with her students to help them bridge the gap between high school and college-level thinking. She is known as a teacher who encourages academic excellence in an atmosphere that enables students to feel free to share their ideas and opinions.
Her goal is to prepare students for upper-division courses by fostering intellectual maturity, so they can attain their academic and professional goals. She goes beyond the simple conveyance of information about government, the economy and the world, by introducing them to research methods that will empower them to be responsible decision-makers and life-long learners. She believes that it is extremely important for her students to see the relevance of government to their lives and be exposed to a broad gamut of political views and information.
This school year, Yeaman’s students are participating in a presidential campaign simulation. Students completed surveys to help them identify the issues they find important and define their own political personas. Yeaman used the results to place students in candidate’s “campaigns” or in interest groups. Students are using candidates’ official Web sites to create posters and devise methods to “raise funds” in accordance with the Federal Elections Campaign and McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Acts. The “funds” are being used to buy airtime to run three-to-five minute advertisements they produce. Students placed in interest groups, are making one-minute videos and donating “money” to candidate’s campaigns or purchasing more airtime. All students will vote in a primary and play a role in the production of a videotaped debate. Students will then vote and evaluate the project.
Yearman received a Master of Science degree from Florida International University and a Master of Arts degree and Ph.D. from Georgetown University. |
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Maria Rivera, an English teacher at McArthur High School, believes that the key to successfully educating a child is personalization. She says that when students know that they matter and that their teacher cares about them, there is a greater chance of success. Her approach to teaching begins with a tour through Virtual Counselor. At the beginning of the school year, she sifts through her students previous FCAT scores and grades going all the way back to eighth grade. She meets with each student individually and reviews their previous year’s scores and explains what the scores mean to the student. Each student records their information on a Student Data Sheet and self-assessment is encouraged as the year progresses. Rivera designs her lesson plans according to students’ needs.
Instructional strategies used by Rivera include modeling and hands on activities. She maintains a classroom library of over 400 books and also keeps magazines and newspapers on hand. To help students identify patterns of organization while studying vocabulary, she had her students practice taking margin notes. Students created posters and “word walls” that extended into the hallways of the school.
Rivera feels that achieving success for her students is easier when parents are partners. At the beginning of the school year she calls every parent to say hello and introduce herself. The parents enjoy talking about their children and Rivera makes sure to extend an invitation to open house. She always tries to solve any problems with students in the classroom, but if it becomes necessary to call home, she never wants the first call she makes to be an uncomfortable one.
Rivera received a Master of Science degree from Nova Southeastern University and has been a teacher for 14 years. |
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