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Three Finalists for MCPS Teacher of the Year Announced

March 16, 2018

Three teachers have been named finalists for the 2018-2019 MCPS Teacher of the Year Award by the Marian Greenblatt Education Fund. They are:

Kristen Kane, kindergarten and first grade teacher at at Forest Knolls Elementary School in Silver Spring. She is also the kindergarten team leader and PTA staff liaison. She is a collaborative, patient and reflective teacher. She creates a positive classroom climate and develops engaging lessons while building strong relationships with her students. Her classroom is fun, lively and interactive. She differentiates and designs instruction to promote student choice and delivers lessons that meet her diverse learners’ needs. She is skilled at working with students who have special needs, including learning disabilities, speech and language developmental delays and ESOL students. Her classroom data shows student growth from the beginning of the year. One example: 11 of 19 students exceeded the kindergarten winter reading benchmark and six of 19 exceeded the kindergarten benchmark of Level 6. And, 90 percent of her students from last school year made at least a 10-point increase in math MAP testing from the fall to spring. She serves on the school’s leadership team and was a member of the Positive Behavior Improvement and Support team. Kane has also taught at Bel Pre and Highland View elementary schools.

Edwina A. Kollo, math content specialist at Shady Grove Middle School in Gaithersburg. She started her career in the world of securities-backed lending and education sales. She moved into the world of teaching as a long-term substitute and loved it. She understands the middle school learner, so she is constantly cultivating self-esteem and confidence in an effort to build relationships with her students. She differentiates lessons, so in her classroom you might find a group of students at the board, another group creating a math problem and a third group listening to instruction on Chromebooks. Students say she always finds a way to help them understand; she never gives up. She believes that “students not only need to understand the processes for solving problems, but they need to be able to connect their learning with prior learning and real-world experience so they are able to apply the math.” Colleagues call her an enormous positive influence and a change agent. She has authored successful grant applications and pioneered an online summer school math class at Shady Grove Middle School. She created an Algebra I Club for students who received a D or E on their report cards. She implemented an after-school program to help algebra students prepare for the final exam; she also planned and facilitated an Algebra Town Hall to inform students about the upcoming exam and preparation opportunities. Kollo has also worked at Rosa Parks Middle School.

Janet Gallagher, resource teacher at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda. She has served as the resource teacher for the math department since 2015. She is an exceptional leader—organized, flexible and innovative. Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Principal Donna Redmond Jones calls her “an unsung hero in the math classes where exceptional teaching matters most.” Nearly 30 percent of the students in her 2016–2017 Advanced Placement statistics course were African American or Latino. She has also taught math to students in the METS program, which serves students learning English with interrupted educations. Her success with the most vulnerable students serves as a model for the 19 staff members she leads. She has a deep commitment to leading for equity. She regularly studies current research and often adopts new strategies to help students learn. She has written curriculum and routinely identifies professional development opportunities. She facilitated a STEM initiative to encourage rising freshmen to take higher-level math and science courses. She visited a local middle school and engaged dozens of eighth grade girls in hands-on math and science tasks. She also helped organize the Principal’s STEM Advisory Board, which brings together community members in STEM fields to generate ideas to engage students in problem-solving and teamwork. Gallagher has also worked at Damascus High School and in Howard County Public Schools.

The Greenblatt Education Fund is also honoring Erin Crowley, kindergarten teacher at Somerset Elementary School, and Helene McLaughlin, physics and general science teacher at Northwood High School, as the 2018 Rising Star Teachers of the Year. This award honors teachers with less than five years of experience whose creativity and enthusiasm encourages students to stretch themselves and achieve more.

Teacher of the Year Award finalists, who must have five years or more of teaching experience in Montgomery County, are interviewed by a panel of educators, Board of Education members, MCPS staff and representatives from the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, as well as a member of the Greenblatt family.

The teachers, along with other MCPS employees and partners, will be honored for their extraordinary work as part of the annual Champions for Children Awards Celebration hosted by MCPS. The MCPS Teacher of the Year will be named during the event, which will take place on Wednesday, April 18, at BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown.

The Marian Greenblatt Education Fund, named for a former Board of Education member, recognizes teachers that inspire their students to achieve, encourage younger teachers to be the best they can be, and help their school and community. The Fund awards each Teacher of the Year finalist a prize of $2,000, and the two Rising Star Teaching awardees $1,000 each.

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