Congratulations to Christine Lim of Pennsauken, New Jersey. She has been named a recipient of the Princeton University Prize for Distinguished Secondary School Teaching. Photo credit: Christine Lim.
Congratulations to Christine Lim of Pennsauken High School in Pennsauken, New Jersey, who has been named a recipient of the Princeton University Prize for Distinguished Secondary School Teaching.
Christine teaches Advanced Placement Literature, Composition, Honors, and SAT Prep at Pennsauken. Her career there has spanned 12 years. In her classroom, Christine practices the philosophy Kaizen, a Japanese word meaning “continuous improvement.” In doing so, she promotes a culture of self-growth in her 9th and 10th grade English classes. To accomplish this, her students actively engage in Socratic Seminars, writing spoken word poetry, and book club study. Through these activities, says Christine, she creates a family atmosphere in her classroom.
Since Christine expects continuous improvement from her students, she also expects the same from herself, says Caroline Steer, Curriculum Supervisor at the Pennsauken School District. “As a result, Mrs. Lim is the finest example to her peers as not only an education leader, but as a kind and thoughtful human,” Steer continued. “Mrs. Lim takes her responsibility as an educator to the next level.”
Daily mood check-ins and weekly evaluations enable Christine to tune in to her students’ emotional well-being, though many are fully remote learners. To reflect upon their successes and their struggles, students write Anything Journals as a validation of their unique stories.
In addition to her responsibilities in the classroom, Christine is the adviser for the Asian Student Association. In this capacity, she organizes the annual Lunar New Year celebration and an Asian Pacific American Heritage Month assembly, among many other social, cultural, and charitable events.
Christine earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education and English, maxima cum laude, from LaSalle University in 2007.
