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Fort Worth ISD District Teacher of the Year Winners, Nominees to Be Honored at May 22 School Board Meeting
Fort Worth, Texas - Fort Worth ISD's District Teachers of the Year and nominees will be honored at the May 22 school board meeting.
Stacey Barringer, a kindergarten teacher at Western Hills Primary School and Alexandra Checka, who teaches seventh-grade English at the Applied Learning Academy were announced the 2018 elementary and secondary honorees, respectively, Wednesday May 9, at the annual awards dinner held at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The event also celebrated eight other Campus Teacher of the Year winners who were finalists for the District award.
Ms. Barringer earned her bachelor’s degree from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has taught for 23 years. As a kindergarten teacher, she recognizes the responsibility of serving at the starting point of her students’ formal education and makes an effort to identify and support both the academic and social emotional needs of each student. Ms. Barringer aims to craft an environment where her students know that they are safe, respected, loved and challenged to be the best individual they can be.
“I build that trust and those relationships with my students so that they know that their voice is so very important,” Ms. Barringer said in a recent video taking an inside look into her classroom. “Every single day that they walk into that classroom, it’s my responsibility to bring them to their level of success. When they can all work together and then achieve that success and solve that problem together, their excitement is just priceless.”
Hear a portion of Ms. Barringer’s acceptance speech in this video.
Ms. Checka earned a master’s degree from the Harvard
Graduate School of Education and a master’s degree in English from Middlebury College. Her instruction is driven by the firm belief in the power of literature to allow students to develop a rich interior life. Ms. Checka values her students as thinkers and aims to show them the skills they need to make their ideas shine. Her students know that she not only expects the best of them, but also that she cares about them as people.
“Success is when the lesson lands right and the kids are talking to each other and there’s a sense of community,” Ms. Checka said in a recent video interview. “It’s not that my class is something that happens to you, that I’m doing to you, that you come in and I sprinkle knowledge powder on you. It’s that you and I together and your classmates, we form a community and create meaning together.
“When students are genuinely, authentically collaborating together, it’s beautiful.”
Hear a portion of Ms. Checka's acceptance speech in this video.
Both Ms. Barringer and Ms. Checka received a $5,000 honorarium from Central Market H-E-B, the awards dinner sponsor. Central Market surprised each of the District Teacher of the Year recipients with a cake, ballons and a bouquet of flowers in their classrooms on Thursday, May 10.
Since 1985, community businesses and organizations have partnered with Fort Worth ISD to recognize outstanding classroom teachers in our District. Annually, one teacher at each campus is nominated and elected by fellow teachers for the honor of Campus Teacher of the Year. Community judges evaluate applications from the Campus Teachers to select District winners in each category.
2018 Secondary District Teacher of Year Finalists:
Megan Ngo, eighth-grade science and biology, W.P. McLean Middle School
Zachary Reimer, social studies,
Polytechnic High School
Orion Smith, social studies,
Arlington Heights High School
Samuel Wilson, history,
Southwest High School
2017 Elementary District Teacher of the Year Finalists:
Andrew McKenzie, fourth-grade teacher,
North Hi Mount Elementary School
Isabel Moore, fourth-grade reading and writing teacher,
Charles E. Nash Elementary School
Lauren Ruth, first-grade teacher,
Bonnie Brae Elementary School
Laurie Stillwell, librarian,
Burton Hill Elementary School
Each of the eight finalists received a $1,500 honorarium from Central Market.
The dinner was attended by Superintendent Kent P. Scribner, Fort Worth ISD Board of Education trustees and Stephen Butt, president of the H-E-B/Central Market Division. Ron White, one of the world’s top memory speakers delivered the keynote address. The Arlington Heights High School Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Alejandro Padro-Fuentes, was the featured entertainment at the dinner.
There are nine Central Market stores in Texas and about 400 H-E-B stores throughout Texas and Mexico. H-E-B contributes more than $10 million annually to Texas education.
View more photos from the ceremony here.
View the entire broadcast of the ceremony here.
-FWISD-
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