Teacher Shows Students To Love History, Wins Award
Published: August 2, 2007
Long Beach, Ca. — Thanks to a longtime history teacher, the Kettering Classical Elementary School library soon will be getting a new archive of history books and materials.
Meri Fedak, a fifth grade teacher at Kettering, recently was named California History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the White House’s Preserve America initiative.
Her work over 32 years of teaching at Kettering (and 35 years of teaching total) earned her a spot among the top kindergarten through sixth grade teachers from across the country.
The History Teacher of the Year Award honors one teacher from each state, evaluating them based on several criteria: at least three years of classroom experience teaching American history; a deep career commitment to teaching American history (local and state); creativity and imagination in the classroom; close attention to primary documents, artifacts, historic sites and other primary materials; and thoughtful assessment of student achievement.
The award earns Fedak — a graduate of California State University, Long Beach —$1,000 and a spot in the running for the National History Teacher of the Year Award to be given out this fall. Kettering’s library also will receive a core archive of history books and materials from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
“Meri’s students are not only learning history, but also learning to love history,” said Dawn Lakowski of the Long Beach Unified School District’s History Curriculum Office. “Walk into her classroom and you will see evidence that students are engaged in history. You can see that they are beginning to become researchers and critical thinkers.”
Lesley Herrmann, executive director of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, said the award gives great history teachers across the country the chance to be recognized.
“It puts exceptional educators front and center,” Herrmann said in a release.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: