Kindergarten teacher Lori Durocher from West Hartford, Connecticut, has earned a prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Photo Credit: we-ha.com
Many excellent classroom teachers are working diligently to train students in skills they will need to succeed in the 21st century. One of these is Lori Durocher, an elementary school teacher from West Hartford, Connecticut. She is so good at her job that she earned a prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).
Lori has spent the last 26 years teaching in a full-inclusion kindergarten program at Norfeldt Elementary School in West Hartford. Before joining the staff at Norfeldt, she taught for five years at Bethany Community School in Bethany, Connecticut. In all, her career as an educator has spanned 31 years.
In the classroom, Lori works to incorporate science and engineering applications into all areas of the curriculum. In this way, students see themselves as scientists and engineers, not only during “science time,” but also throughout the entire instructional day. She specializes in developing innovative science adventures that appeal to young children and opportunities through which students work collaboratively to theorize, construct, and test hypotheses. In addition to her classroom instruction, Lori is an active member of the Faculty Advisory Committee and the Technology Committee. She also presents at early childhood education forums and mentors early childhood student teachers.
For her work as an educator, Lori has garnered West Hartford Foundation Grant Awards, not just once, but six times. Four of those occasions she received the award for science. She also serves her district as a Seesaw ambassador, and as an ambassador for Go Noodle. Twice she has been named a finalist for West Hartford Teacher of the Year, in 2004 and again in 2021.
Lori earned her Bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in Elementary Education with a minor in Psychology in 1990, and her Master’s degree, magna cum laude, in Early Childhood Education in 1994, both from Southern Connecticut State University.
