MSTOY Presentations

I had the honor and pleasure to assess presentations from the Maine State Teacher of the Year Semi-Finalists at the University of Maine today, and enjoyed every minute of the day. The UM Master of Arts in Teaching Program students were observers as they have been for a number of years, and their questions during the process were profound and earnest.

We had a rubric to work from and it was a task to maintain consistency and make sure everyone was judged fairly. Once again, as I have seen in past years, there are so many excellent teachers here in Maine that it's a shame they can't all be recognized more often. The message within that is that we need to recognize and celebrate our colleagues as often as possible in a variety of ways.

I had in mind to photograph all the presenters, but after the first one I got too involved in the rubric and the process to remember to do that, but the first two photos here of Katherine are so typical of the expression and engagement of the presenters that I hope they convey some idea of the intensity of this process. The last photo is of Sherrie Gould presenting the candidates to the audience after they finished their presentations.