Teachers of Tomorrow is excited to announce our 2023 Teacher of The Year nominees! This annual tradition spotlights exceptional educators across the states we serve by nominating one “Teacher of the Year” per state. Our nine state winners have been determined and will be awarded $500 each to support their classrooms along with six months of access to FREE educator professional development courses provided by SimpleK12. In addition to the state title, bragging rights and rewards, each state winner is put into the running to become the official Teachers of Tomorrow 2023 Teacher of the Year!
Now that our state winners have been selected, this is where YOU come in! It is time to determine which state winner will receive the coveted title of the 2023 Teacher of the Year. From August 21st to September 1st, we are entrusting YOU with determining who will take home the title by casting your vote for the candidate you believe made the biggest impact during the 2022-2023 school year! This top educator will be honored with $5,000 for their classroom needs and one year of FREE educator professional development courses provided by SimpleK12. The winner will be determined once all the votes are in and announced in mid-September 2023.
Please join us in celebrating these inspiring educators by reading more about them below and casting your vote for the 2023 Teacher of the Year today!
Ashley Self – Mobile, Alabama
District: Mobile County Public School System
Grades: 6-8, English as a Second Language
If you were given $500, how would you use it to benefit your students/classroom?
I am an itinerant teacher for my district, serving students in grades 6-8 at three schools. My instruction is centered around project-based learning. I would like to create a vegetable garden at each of my three schools so that students can monitor, track, and report in English about what they observe. Having additional funds to complete this project would benefit my ESL students and the schools at which they attend. Funds would be used for infrastructure and supplies.
Please share one of your favorite teaching/student/classroom moments from the 2022-2023 school year.
The last school year was full of many challenging and rewarding experiences. My most memorable experience was receiving a handwritten letter from a student over Thanksgiving break. In the letter, the student wrote that he is thankful for me and the time spent helping him to improve his English skills. The letter was unprompted and heartfelt. It was a great reminder of why I chose this path. It also took a lot of courage and showed a lot of growth on the student’s part as his English was so limited during that time of year. By the end of the school year he had improved so much. I was able to show him his growth and thank him for taking time to show gratitude for me.
Chelsea Garner – Lexington, South Carolina
District: Lexington County School District One / White Knoll High School
Grades: 9-12: Multilingual Language Program (ESOL)
If you were given $500, how would you use it to benefit your students/classroom?
If I were given $500, I would use it to benefit my students and my classroom by buying educational materials such as math manipulatives, culturally inclusive books, and conversational based games.
Please share one of your favorite teaching/student/classroom moments from the 2022-2023 school year.
One of my favorite teaching moments from the 2022-2024 school year was learning to advocate for my students and in return my students learned how to advocate for themselves. Specifically, one of my ML students was taking geometry for the second time and despite all his efforts was failing with a 17. After finding out his accommodations were not being met, I was able to go to his counselor and admin to advocate for his teacher to be changed. He was placed into a co-taught geometry class where he was supported and able to sustain a B average. After that, my student began advocating for himself to ensure his teachers were giving him the proper supports and accommodations in order to be successful.
Leslie McKahan- Kissimmee, Florida
District: School District of Osceola County
Grades: 2nd, Math & Science
If you were given $500, how would you use it to benefit your students/classroom?
I found STEM projects (STEM Starter kits) for hands-on science learning. This is student-designed creativity using the basis of the engineering design process with science topics such as force and motion, 5 senses, properties of matter, and the experimentation and investigation process. Students can implement and connect science foundations with practical application and have fun.
Please share one of your favorite teaching/student/classroom moments from the 2022-2023 school year.
Throughout the year in Math, we discussed the topic of arrays as the foundation of multiplication. We talked the importance of having a strong foundation, so our “house of Math” does not collapse in later school years. The columns outside our window reminded us of the direction of a column and a row. We demonstrated this concept with our parallel arms going up and down (vertical) or across one on top of the other (horizontal). We used magnets and other objects to make specified arrays. Equations of repeated addition were written to show an analytical picture of the array. The specifics of the array were written; example: 4 rows with 3 apples in each row. At the end of the year, I stated a description and my students created the array, the repeated addition equation, and the written specifications. We lined up the written information to become a multiplication equation. The B.E.S.T. benchmark had students solve to 25. My students were able to solve anything in the single-digit range. They were so excited, and I was so happy to see the connections from the foundation to application.
Jordan Priebe – North Adams, Michigan
District: North Adams Jerome Public Schools
Grades: 6-8 Science
If you were given $500, how would you use it to benefit your students/classroom?
I would use this generous gift to increase the amount of hands on labs I want to do in my classroom. My students thrive when they can actually see or manipulate an activity in front of them. Working with a low income population, a lot of my students are not exposed to the opportunities of others. I’d like to be someone they know is always going to challenge them with something new and exciting! Having access to safe and high quality lab equipment, such as beakers or hot plates, would go a long way in the education and engagement of my students.
Please share one of your favorite teaching/student/classroom moments from the 2022-2023 school year.
One of my favorite moments from my classroom last year was when we were in our electricity unit. I supplied my students with tin foil, a battery, and small light bulb then gave little to no instructions other than “light the bulb.” There was a lot of struggle and A LOT of encouragement needed as they tried to make their bulbs light up. As soon as they seemed to be close to giving up, the first group succeeded and yelled out with such excitement! The atmosphere and energy in the room completed fed off of that group and suddenly every group was right back at it ready to succeed. The smiles and cheers as each group figured out the proper technique was an amazing moment to witness.
Misty Foster – Vale, North Carolina
District: Catawba County Schools / Banoak Elementary School
Grades: 4th Grade Math and Science
If you were given $500, how would you use it to benefit your students/classroom?
If given $500 I would purchase items for my classroom that would enhance student engagement (games, chart stand for anchor charts, and other fun items) and help students find their love of math. I feel two of the most important aspects of teaching is to build relationships with the students and to have all students fully engaged during the lesson. Having fun activities (games and hands on activities) keeps the students interested in the lesson and focused. I like to use food (candy, fruit,etc) for math topics such as fractions as I think it helps students understand the topics better when they have hands-on activities.
I love math and want to share that love of math with all of my students. If students can relate the topic to something they enjoy (sports, candy, video games, etc) they will be more likely to be engaged and hopefully find their own love of math. I think too many students have a fear of math and I want all of my students to feel confident. I would use the money to purchase games and activities that could be used throughout the year in math stations to keep the students engaged. These stations would be organized both in the regular classroom lesson and during invention time where my students are placed in groups where I can better help individual student needs. When students know the lesson will be fun they will be excited to come to class each day. This will lead to classroom participation and engagement.
I would also look for items that could be used for my AIG group to keep them challenged and to push them as well as items for my students that need more help. These two groups are sometimes put on the back burner and effort placed on the students in the middle. However, I want to meet the needs of all of my students. If given this money I would be able to build my classroom with supplemental resources to help all students and to help continue making my classroom fun.
Please share one of your favorite teaching/student/classroom moments from the 2022-2023 school year.
One of my favorite teaching moments of the year was when I was able to look across the room and see every hand raised and almost everyone with math problems worked out on their paper. One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to have all students want to participate by going to the board to work out problems ( either during games or examples during the lessons). I wanted them to have confidence in themselves. I also had high expectations and explained that math required paper and pencil and all problems should be worked out and checked. At the beginning of the year I had a mix of students that raised their hand to go to the board or answer questions out loud and some that did not want to participate. I also had a lot of students that did not want to work out problems on paper or check their work. We worked throughout the year to build confidence and classroom relationships so that the class knew we were a team. As a team we would support each other. If a classmate got something wrong then it was okay as we all make mistakes. The great thing about learning is that mistakes are OK as long as we learn from them. We also practiced working and checking everything. A few months into the year, we were playing a jeopardy math game. I split the class into two teams and every student hand went up to participate. It was a great feeling seeing that all students wanted to play the game and felt confident to answer the question. Additionally, almost everyone had worked out the problem on their paper and checked their answer. As a teacher, I was so proud of my students. I was proud they were engaged, proud they felt confident, proud they worked out their problems, and most importantly proud that they checked their work. These are things that will help the students in my classroom, in other classrooms, and outside the classroom. I want them to work hard, be confident, check behind themselves, utilize their resources, and to understand that anything is possible if they try.
Kristi Judson – Franklin, Indiana
District: Franklin Community School Corporation
Grades: 1st grade general education
If you were given $500, how would you use it to benefit your students/classroom?
I have recently read the book, and taken part in a training on Building Thinking Classrooms, and am ready to dive in with my students. One key concept to increase student thinking is utilizing vertical, non-permanent surfaces (VNPS) for student work. Research has shown that student groups working on VNPS demonstrate more thinking than any other surface. Students work in groups on VNPS which allows students to see the work of others which promotes knowledge mobility as well as generates more ideas. VNPS make it easier for the teacher to informally assess student work. This practice has also proven to be highly engaging for students. I would use a majority of the money to purchase supplies needed to implement this in my classroom.
Please share one of your favorite teaching/student/classroom moments from the 2022-2023 school year.
Mid-year, a student moved in with a history of behavior issues stemming from extreme trauma in his home. He had a history of violence in the classroom, and work refusal. I quickly realized that I needed to focus on trust before we could move toward academic achievement. Building trust meant showing an interest, and spending quality time (we often ate lunch together). Building trust meant giving hugs to start the day, and (me) remaining calm when he felt dysregulated. Building trust also meant providing consistent boundaries, holding him accountable, and following through on my word.
More quickly than I anticipated, we were at a place of mutual respect, and trust. We both worked closely with his guardian, the school interventionist, as well as Adult and Child to set up a positive behavior reward system. I was able to increasingly offer praise and reward for his positive choices. His behavior issues diminished, and his confidence grew.
By mid-winter, we finally came to a place that he was (mostly) working hard in class. Together, he and I tracked his work completion by subject every day. Since he was spending more time in class (as opposed in an in school discipline situation), and was in a calm, ready to learn state, the work started getting easier for him. Again, his confidence grew little by little. The culmination of his hard work came in March. At our school, 2nd graders were able to take the IREAD test. I was a bit worried he would not be able to focus for that long of a time period, or that he would get frustrated and refuse to finish. Not only did he perform beautifully behaviorally, but HE PASSED IREAD!!!
I was very fortunate that this young man was naturally very intelligent. As his teacher, I had to find the key to unlock some social-emotional challenges he was facing in order to tap into that intelligence. He finished the year with success, and I know I am a better teacher because of this young man.
Isaac Fudge – Richmond, Texas
District: Lamar CISD / George Ranch High School
Grades: 9-12 Money Matters
If you were given $500, how would you use it to benefit your students/classroom?
To utilize programming and utensils to allow my students to grow themselves and better prepare themselves for post secondary transition. Especially via certification that leads to increased CCMR.
Please share one of your favorite teaching/student/classroom moments from the 2022-2023 school year.
On Tax day I taught a lesson on how to file your taxes. The students loved it, and their minds were stimulated. They told me that despite the difficulty of the assignment, it was an extremely meaningful and helpful lesson to aid them in understanding how to file their taxes. I felt very helpful in preparing students in post secondary transition with this lesson.
As well, talking about personal finance with the students was awesome. They loved doing assignments that led to and helped them understand the expenses that go toward independent living.
Jennifer Qualls – Mesa, Arizona
District: Mesa Public Schools
Grades: 6th Grade
If you were given $500, how would you use it to benefit your students/classroom?
I would purchase hands on manipulatives for math and science to further my students understanding of these vital subjects. I would also purchase a small group/tutoring desk to maximize small group needs.
Please share one of your favorite teaching/student/classroom moments from the 2022-2023 school year.
During a 2nd grade introduction lesson on division, a student raised their hand and said, “Mrs. Qualls division is kind of the opposite of multiplication!” I love that he had an AH HA moment about how fact families work together.
Chase LaComb – Las Vegas, Nevada
District: Ccsd
Grades: 5th grade/ all subjects
If you were given $500, how would you use it to benefit your students/classroom?
Would buy a novel set, science resources for hands on experiments, and flexible seating arrangements for my classroom.
Please share one of your favorite teaching/student/classroom moments from the 2022-2023 school year.
From a student, “Mr. LaComb we do a lot of work, but it’s still fun at the same time.”
In recognizing these educators, we do more than applaud individual achievement; we celebrate the collective spirit of teaching, the passion that drives educators to make a difference every day. As we look forward to mid-September’s announcement, let us remember the impact a single educator can have on countless lives. The Teacher of the Year award stands as a testament to the enduring power of education and the individuals who dedicate their lives to it. Thank you for joining us in this celebration, and here’s to the heroes of our classrooms!
