Tag Archives: English Teachers

Carly Maloney named Utah’s 2024 Teacher of the Year

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High school English and psychology teacher Carly Maloney has been named Utah’s 2024 State Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Kier

I am always excited to share the story of an outstanding educator who has earned recognition for the work with have done with young people. Today I share the story of Carly Maloney, a high school English and psychology teacher from Utah. She has been named her state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year.

Carly teaches English, English Language Advancement, and Advanced Placement Psychology at her high school alma mater, Viewpoint High School in Bountiful, Utah. She has also coached soccer  on her campus and served as an advisor for sophomore, junior, and student body officers. She has served as a member of Viewmont High School’s joint staff school and standards-based learning committees. She is a member of the Davis Education Association Board and has been named a recipient of her District’s Teacher Leader Fellowship. The fellowship has taught her more about how to be a teacher leader in her own building, she says, and has given her an opportunity to speak with state leaders at the Capitol about what’s happening in her classroom.

The first thing she wants all of her students to know, Carly declares, is that they have a safe place at school where they belong, their voice matters, and they can connect with others. She also wants them to develop resilience. One of the signs on one wall in her classroom reads “Grow through what you go through.” Another says, “It’s OK to not be OK.” A third says, “Mental health is as important as physical health,” and a fourth reads, “Be kind to your mind.”

Carly earned  her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education from Idaho State University in 2014. She earned her Master’s degree in Learning Experience Design and Educational Technology from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2018. She is a member of the National Education Association and the American Psychological Association’s Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools.

Gwen Walz: Former teacher and current First Lady of Minnesota

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Former English teacher Gwen Walz currently serves as the First Lady of Minnesota, and is married to the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris, a candidate for the office of President of the United States. Photo Credit: Augsburg University

Sometimes an outstanding educator finds herself thrust into the arena of public service. This is certainly true of Gwen Walz, who is currently serving as the First Lady of the state of Minnesota. She is married to Tim Walz, who is the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris, a candidate for the office of President of the United States.

Gwen was born in Glencoe, Minnesota, on June 15, 1966. Gwen was born into a family of educators. Her father was a physical education teacher and coach. Her mother served as the community education director for a school district. As a young woman, she earned her Bachelor’s degree from Gustavus Adolphus College, a liberal arts college located in St. Peter, Minnesota. She earned her Master’s degree from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Once she completed her education, Gwen moved to Nebraska where she accepted a position as an English teacher. That’s where she met and married her husband, Tim. In fact, the two teachers shared a classroom! In 2004, the couple moved back to her native state of Minnesota. There she and Tim both became teachers at Mankato High School. Later she worked as an assessment coordinator for Mankato Public Schools, and she taught in alternative and migrant schools. She remained in that position until 2018. In 2019, she worked at Augsburg University on government relations and public service career projects for students.

In addition, Gwen and her husband founded Educational Travel Adventures, Inc., an organization that offered students trips to China. She has also worked through the Bard Prison Initiative to help incarcerated people pay for college courses.

Gwen Walz: A true Chalkboard Champion.

OK teacher Traci Manuel recognized as her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year

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English teacher Traci Manuel of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been recognized as her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.  Photo Credit: TulsaKids

I am always excited to share the story of an outstanding educator who has been recognized for their work with young people. One of these is Traci Manuel, an English teacher from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.

Traci teaches courses in Advanced English to sophomores at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa. She has also taught at Tulsa’s Central High School and Carver Middle School. In addition to the English courses she has taught, Traci has logged experience as the Directory of the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determinism) program, an extensive college preparatory program. She also created a summer reading program and learning project and organized a Women of Power class. At the District level, Traci designed a district-level leadership course and curriculum.

Traci takes her role as an influencer of young people very seriously. “An impactful teacher cannot just be strong in their content mastery, but must be skilled in multiple areas,” Traci asserts. “These areas [include] effectiveness in communication, conflict resolution, relationship building, loving and accepting all children, being a team player, detailed planning, organizational skills, [knowing how to be an] emotional stabilizer, and classroom management,” she continues.

Even though she came from a family of educators, Traci’s path to the classroom was not a traditional one. After eating her degree, she accepted a position as a substitute teacher for just one month. Then she went back to school to earn her graduate degree. That done, Traci substituted for another year, then became a teacher’s assistant, and then worked as a parent facilitator before finally accepting a position as a full-time classroom teacher.

In her role as Oklahoma’s 2024 State Teacher of the Year, Traci says her major area of focus will be on narrowing the achievement gap.

Traci earned her Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Philander Smith University. She completed graduate work at the University of Michigan. Her career as an educator has spanned 12 years.

To read an interview with Traci Manuel, click on this link to TulsaKids.

Kimberly Jones named North Carolina’s 2024 Teacher of the Year

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High school English teacher Kimberly Jones has been named North Carolina’s 2024 Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit” NC Newsline

It is always wonderful when an exceptional educator is honored for their outstanding work in the classroom. One of these is Kimberly Jones, a high school English teacher from North Carolina. She has been named her state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year.

Kimberly teaches at Chapel Hill High School in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools District. She has taught in the district since 2006. There she instructs courses on World Literature to sophomores. Part of her curriculum includes a study of the Holocaust and human rights.

This amazing teacher also instructed classes in AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determinism), a college readiness program designed to increase the number of under-represented students who enroll and succeed in college. Kimberly is a big believer in the program. “As an African American woman from a single parent, rural, working class background, I know first-hand the transformative power of education and the impact of hard-working educators to change lives,” Kimberly reveals.

In addition to her work in the public school, Kimberley serves as a Site Director for the Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights in North Carolina. She also works as an education consultant for PBS North Carolina. In these roles, she leads and supports fellow educators in North Carolina and throughout the country in designing lessons that help students better understand literary, cultural, and historical texts and events.

For her work as a professional educator, Kimberly has won numerous awards. In 2024, she was honored by Governor Roy Cooper and the NC African American Heritage Commission for Contributions to Public Education. She was honored with the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Equity Equals Excellence Award. She was also named the Chapel Hill Public School Foundation Sullivan Chair for Excellence in High School English Education in both 2022 and 2023. And as if all that were not enough, she was honored as WCHL’s Radio Chapelboro Hometown Hero Award.

Kiimberly earned her Bachelor’s degree in English in 2005 and her Master of Arts  in Education with a Concentration in Secondary English Instruction in 2006, both from Wake Forest University. She is also a National Board Certified Teacher.

Eric Jenkins named Indiana’s 2024 State Teacher of the Year

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High school English/Language Arts teacher Eric Jenkins has been named Indiana’s 2024 Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Circle City Broadcasting

I am always excited to share the story of an exemplary teacher who has earned recognition for their work. One of these is Eric Jenkins, a high school teacher English from Franklin, Indiana.

Eric teaches English/Language Arts courses to sophomores at Franklin Community High School. He has taught there for the past 11 years. He also teaches an Advanced College Project composition course at Indiana University. Furthermore, he is a teacher and consultant for the Hoosier Writing Project, a program which helps educators improve their writing skills and, in the process, become better writing teachers.

The honored educator has sage advice for beginning educators. “Teach fearlessly,” he advises. “And the first kind of tenant of ‘teach fearlessly’ is that you need to not be afraid to take care of yourself. We need to be well before we can take care of our students,” he continues. “Beyond that, I think the other piece of advice is, don’t be afraid to reach out to the community for support when things are getting hard,” he says.

An Indiana native, Eric inaugurated his teaching career at the American Christian Academy in Ibadan, Niberia, in 2007. The school was located in a walled compound outside of central Ibadan, Eric remembers. “You know the joke about teachers living at school? Well, we actually did,” he recounts. “There was a house on the school grounds that we lived in, a short walk away from the classroom buildings. Three other American teachers and I shared that house,” he continues. Once he returned to the United States, he taught for three years in Trussville, Alabama. In 2014, he relocated to his home state of Indiana.

Eric earned his Bachelor’s degree in Secondary English/Language Arts Education from Indiana University in 2007. He earned a Master’s degree in Literacy from the State University of New York, Albany. He completed the requirements for his teaching certificate from Ball State University in 2017.

To read more about Eric, click on this link to an article about him published by Indiana University, Bloomington.