Educator Takeru Nagayoshi of New Bedford, Massachusetts, shares his passion for Language Arts with his students.

I enjoy sharing stories about talented educators who have been pubicly recognized for their outstanding work in the classroom. One of these is Takeru Nagayoshi, a high school Language Arts teacher from New Bedford, Massachusetts. Takeru was named his state’s Teacher of the Year.

The honored educator inaugurated his career in education with Teach for America. He admits that teaching wasn’t really something he imagined himself doing long term, but, “I really fell in love with the craft of education,” he said. “Quality teaching is really not about telling kids what to know, but really empowering them to gain the skills so that they can find out what they need to know,” asserts Takeru.

Takeru teaches Advanced Placement English at New Bedford High School. The school serves urban students on the lower end of the socio-economic scale. He has also piloted the research-based AP Capstone program. Less than ten of these programs exists throughout his entire state. In addition to his classroom duties, Takeru coaches colleagues in high-needs districts and serves on an educator diversity task force. This year, he lent his expertise to the launching of an educator leadership program, Southern New England Alumni Leadership Initiative (SNEALI). The program develops local capacity for teachers in the Southern New England area.

For his work, Takeru has earned many accolades. He received the Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teacher Leadership Award in 2019. That same year, he garnered the Boston University Young Alumni Award. In 2018, he earned the Sontag Prize in Urban Education.

Takeru graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with an Honors Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations. He also earned a Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Teaching from Boston University.

Last year, Takeru encouraged minorities to go into the field of education when hepublished an op-ed piece in the Brown University Daily Herald. “If you’re a person of color and passionate about social justice, try becoming a teacher,” he wrote. “Our presence in the classroom has long-term implications on how future generations will come to navigate race.”

Read more about this chalkboard champion at this link in South Coast Today.