The Teacher of the Year Process

Monday and Tuesday I was part of the OCPS district selection committee to help select our next district Teacher of the Year. Different districts follow different paths. In Orange County each school selects a school TOY (usually nominated by and vote on, by the school staff); school winners then complete a rather lengthy written application; each of these applications is reviewed by a large group of administrators, parents, community leaders, and teachers (I was part of this process)- a scoring rubric is used with each application scored by at least three readers; The top ten applications are then sent to each of our area superintendents for a final reading where five finalists are picked; which leads to the final phase which I have just participated in. A committee consisting of the current OCPS Teacher of the Year, a current or retired OCPS administrator and three business/community leaders visits each of the finalists. We observed each finalist teach a lesson (about 20 minutes) and then we proceeded to interview each finalist for another 20 minutes. Yesterday afternoon we completed that process and spent considerable time reviewing applications, discussing the merits of each of our fine finalists and choosing our next OCPS District Teacher of the Year. The announcement will be made at a gala celebration at Walt Disney World's Contemporary Hotel on February 13th. Until then the winner is kept secret. Not even the Superintendent knows until the announcement is made.

I was proud of each of the finalists and excited to be part of the process. I can say that the decision was incredibly difficult and the committee was deeply moved by the expertise and dedication of each of the finalists. Orange County's finalists are (in the order they were interviewed): Tamara Daugherty, third grade teacher at Lakeville Elementary School; Emily Thorpe, 9th grade English teacher at Apopka High School 9th Grade Center; Jennifer Bohn, I.B. Coordinator and 9th/10th grade social sciences teacher at Evans High School; Stephanie Johnson Possell, 9-12th grade health teacher at Olympia High School; and Dr. Donna Walker-Knight, ESE resource/co-teacher for grades K-2 at Grand Avenue Primary Learning Center.

I will be taking the group out for dinner before the February event for a chance for them to get to know each other. This has become something of a tradition within our district over the last few years. I'm looking forward to listening and learning and sharing as I spend time with this wonderful group of educators.

The District winner continues the journey and will then begin applying to become next year's state TOY winner. Interestingly I will no longer be the current OCPS District Teacher of the Year after February, but will remain the Florida TOY until July when a new person is selected. It can all become quite confusing!