Tag Archives: Performing Arts Teachers

Educator Melissa Shelley garners a 2023 Humanities Texas Outstanding Teacher Award

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Language Arts and theater arts educator Melissa Shelley garners a 2023 Humanities Texas Outstanding Teacher Award. Photo credit: Gruver High School

Our nation’s students are fortunate to have dedicated teachers working diligently to improve their progress in school. One of these is Melissa Shelley, a Language Arts teacher and performing arts instructor from Texas. She has garnered a 2023 Humanities Texas Outstanding Teacher Award.

Melissa teaches English and Theater at Gruver High School in the small town of Gruver. Since she has taken over the theater program there, she has singlehandedly re-established the theater program and conducted fundraisers for her productions. One way she has done this is by creating “Night of the Arts,” an evening that brings the school and local community together and awakens a passion for the arts in her small, rural town.

Melissa has a global goal in mind when she organizes her courses and her theatrical productions. “My mindset when I teach my subjects is to help students understand themselves, their world, and their place in that world,” explains Melissa. “That is my goal every day I step into my role as an educator, and I am honored to have the opportunity to do it,” she continues.

Melissa earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sports and Exercise in 2009 and her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 2012, both from Texas Tech University.

Humanities Texas presents annual statewide awards to encourage excellence in teaching and recognize classroom teachers who have made exemplary contributions in teaching, curriculum development, and extracurricular programming. This year, over 600 teachers from all over the state were nominated for this prestigious award, and only 15 were selected as winners. Each winning teacher will receive $5,000 for personal use and an additional $1,000 will go to their school to buy instructional materials related to the humanities.

 

CA educator Catherine Borek: Her enthusiasm is infectious

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Here is English and Theater Arts teacher Catherine Borek of Compton, California. Her love for her students and for her work with them is absolutely infectious. No wonder she was named one of five California State Teachers of the Year. Just watch this video about her which was made a year ago, when she was selected the 2022 Teacher of the Year by the Compton Unified School District, and you’ll see what I mean.

Catherine teaches Advanced Placement English Literature and Drama at Dominguez High School. It was the Teach for America program that originally brought her into the classroom. Since that first year, she has devoted all 26 years of her career as an educator to Dominguez.

When Catherine first started working at the school, she was dismayed to discover that the Drama program had long been defunct. Believing the performing arts to be very important, she threw her considerable energy into reviving the program. The new program’s first year, 1999, she co-produced the play Our Town with colleague Karen Greene. The efforts were recorded in a documentary which became an award-winning film.

But the teacher credits her students themselves with their successes. “What makes Compton special and what test scores don’t show is that we have some really creative students and some true problem-solvers,” declares Catherine. “That’s something to be celebrated.”

Catherine also coaches the school’s rugby team, which she founded. And as if all that were not enough, the honored teacher has led her students to the completion of the LA Marathon, collaboration with the LA Opera, and starring in a Keurig commercial.

Her hard work has not gone unnoticed. In addition to being named the 2022 Teacher of the Year by the Compton Unified School District and one of five educators named as a Teacher of the Year by the LA County Office of Education, she has also been honored as one of five California State Teachers of the Year.

“To be distinguished as Teacher of the Year is no minor designation in our district,” asserts School Board Member Micah Ali. “It says that you have made an impact in the lives of both students and your colleagues. It means that you have contributed significantly toward our district elevating and opening doors to opportunities for our students,” he concluded.

 

Kansas Performing Arts teacher Sarah Koehn nominated for top award

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Performing Arts teacher Sarah Koehn has been nominated to be the Kansas State Teacher of the Year for 2024. Photo credit: Andover Public Schools

Congratulations are due to Sarah Koehn, a performing arts teacher from Andover, Kansas. She has been nominated to be the Kansas State Teacher of the Year for 2024.

Sarah teaches theater arts and speech at Andover High School. She has taught there since 2004.

Throughout her teaching career, Sarah has earned the high regard of both her colleagues and her students. “Ms. Koehn provides her students meaningful learning opportunities and maintains high expectations,” says Andover High School Principal Brent Riedy. “The culture she has created within her classroom and during productions is one of equity and inclusion where students feel safe and connected,” Riedy expresses.

Former student Paul Turner agrees. “Ms. Koehn is also an incredible leader, and a mentor to generations of students,” he asserts. “Her leadership and mentorship abilities started with the respect and esteem she had for her students. She saw potential in everyone,” Turner concludes.

Her nomination for Kansas Teacher of the Year is not the only recognition Sarah has earned. In 2022, she was honored as one of three 2022 Wolfe Teaching Excellence Award winners from the University of Kansas School of Education. Sarah also garnered a Horizon Award from Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas.

Jimmy Day named Colorado’s 2023 Teacher of the Year

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Middle school music educator Jimmy Lee Day II has been named the 2023 Colorado State Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Rocky Mountain PBS

It is always my pleasure to celebrate exceptional educators who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Jimmy Lee Day II, a band director from Aurora, Colorado. He has been named his state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. He is the first African American man to win the coveted recognition.

Jimmy teaches instrumental music to sixth graders, seventh graders, and eighth graders at East Middle School in Aurora. He has taught there since 2017. In a career that has spanned 14 years, he has expanded three struggling band programs in urban areas. He transformed each of them into award-winning programs, earning superior scores at district music festivals. In fact, as a result of his effective teaching, Jimmy was chosen to participate as a mentor in the Public Education & Business Coalition and the Aurora Public School Mentoring Community of Practice.

The honored educator says the core strategies to his success as a teacher are twofold: Connection and consistency. “From classroom management to how I rehearse my students to how I want my expectations—it’s consistent, it doesn’t change, it’s unbending. And then my connection—me making myself human just like you—and we make connections,” he asserts.

What inspired Jimmy to pursue a career as a music educator? “I am originally from Detroit,” he explains. “The band director at my middle school, Mrs. Knox, saw my potential to be a great instrumentalist. She helped me attend after-school practice twice a week. My parents did not have a car and the school was far from where I stayed. As a result, I wasn’t able to attend practice most of the time. She offered to take me home when I wasn’t able to get a ride,” he continues. “At the time, I figured she was just being nice, but reflecting on it as an older person, I see that she saw me as an investment in her program, and she made sure to invest in me as well,” he concludes.

Jimmy earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music at Tennessee State University in 2006. He earned his Master’s degree in Teaching at Trevecca Nazarene University in 2008.

FL drama teacher Jason Zembuch Young honored at the Tony Awards!

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Florida drama teacher Jason Zembuch Young was honored yesterday at the 76th Annual Tony Awards when he garnered this year’s Excellence in Theatre Education Award. Photo credit: Broadway News

If you were watching the 76th Annual Tony Awards last night you may have noticed that a very special honor was given to drama teacher Jason Zembuch Young of South Plantation High School in Plantation, Florida. He garnered this year’s Excellence in Theatre Education Award (EITEA)!

For much of his 20-year career as an educator, Jason has been a champion for providing inclusive theater programs, particularly for the deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) community, which is quite large in his area. He certainly goes the extra mile to support both his DHH students and the audiences who come to watch them perform. Each year, Jason produces two full-length productions—one play and one musical—that are performed both vocally and in American Sign Language. To prepare for these productions, which often involve 150 or more students, Jason ensures that interpreters are available during and after school to teach his hearing and DHH actors and crew how to communicate and perform successfully. And he does this with a budget that is slim to none.

In addition, Jason provides enrichment opportunities during the summers. Using his high school students as counselors and mentors, he runs a six-week theater camp for elementary and middle school students. Furthermore, his high school students participate in International Thespian district and state competitions, and they have earned eight South Florida Cappie Theater Awards for Best Play or Musical during Jason’s tenure at South Plantation High School. And as if all that were not enough, the honored educator conducts fundraisers each year to provide four scholarships worth $1,000 to graduating seniors.

Not only does Jason support his students at school, but he and his partner, Michael, have generously provided a foster home to more than three dozen abused and underprivileged children. He has facilitated the adoption of many of those foster children, and he has even become an adoptive parent himself. And to enrich their lives, Jason offers free admission to foster families so they can attend his theater productions.

The Excellence in Theatre Education Award was established in 2014 by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University to give recognition to exemplary theater arts teachers and to nurture the arts in education. In addition to his stunning trophy, Jason will receive $10,000 for his South Plantation High School theater program, and he’ll receive tickets to attend this year’s Tony Awards and Gala. In addition, Jason’s students will attend a Master Class taught by a member of the Carnegie Mellon University faculty.

This year’s Tony Awards were held on Sun., June 11, 2023, at the United Palace Theater in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood.