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Story Archives: MCS announces top teachers


MCS announces top teachers
posted Thursday, April 9th, 2009 @ 7:10 amE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
Monroe City Schools 2010 elementary, junior high and high school District Teachers of the Year were announced at the March 24 school board meeting.

Samantha Hano of J.S. Clark Magnet School, Katrina Roberson of Lee Junior High School and Emalie Dunn of Neville High School are the recipients of this year's honorary awards.

Hano, an art teacher, said, "I'm totally committed to supporting academics through art and I regularly consult with classroom teachers so that I can reinforce concepts. For math, we used the dissection of the Mona Lisa to teach fractions."

Recently Hano explained the meaning of endurance while studying Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel. "If you walked by the classroom during the endurance lesson, you would have found teachers and students laying on their backs painting on paper taped underneath tables," she said.

Hano, who was born with severe hearing problems that eventually led to speech difficulty and academic struggles, repeated kindergarten. "It changed my life because I had such caring teachers, helping mold me into the teacher I am today," she concluded.

The junior high teacher of the year contributes her choice of teaching as a profession to three things: childhood dreams, past teachers and a strong desire to help others. Katrina Roberson, an eighth-grade earth science teacher, remembers gathering her dolls and any live friends that would play school with her when she was a child. She said, "Outstanding educators have the ability to take the most boring subject and convert it into a burst of excitement." Roberson gives back to the community by serving as the site coordinator for 21st Century Learning Centers and GEAR Up grants. Through these after-school programs, she is able to help students connect to clubs and activities outside of school. "I love taking the students on field trips to provide a glimpse into life after Lee Junior High," she said.

The high school teacher of the year was influenced to become a teacher by an innate desire to learn, exceptional experiences as a high school student, and her mother, who was also an educator. Emalie Dunn, a math teacher, describes herself as "passionate about learning" and after four years of teaching, completed a master's degree in Educational Leadership. Dunn is currently pursuing National Board Certification. Dunn said, "I learned early that many of my students have not had positive experiences in their math classes and are not confident about their own abilities. Since many of these students expect to fail, they are not comfortable taking risks in math." To engage her students, Dunn encourages students to talk to her and relate topics of study to real world experiences, a technique that has yielded positive results. "The students work with each other in collaborative groups and support each other as a community," she concluded.

Individual school teachers of the year are: Barkdull Faulk Elementary, Sandra Voorhees; Berg Jones Elementary, LaTanya Head Grimes; Carver Elementary, Kenisha Tousant; Clara Hall Elementary, Linda Williams; J.S. Clark Magnet School, Samantha Hano; Cypress Point University Elementary, Brandi Townsend; Lexington Elementary, Susan Robinson; Madison James Foster Elementary, Jennifer Armstrong-Harris; Minnie Ruffin Elementary, Hattie Price; Sallie Humble Elementary, April Jones; Carroll Jr. High, Kimberly Haley; MLK Middle School, Beverly Marshall; Lee Jr. High, Katrina Roberson; Neville High School, Emalie Dunn; Wossman High School, Brenda Simmons and Career Development Center, Donniel Hooter.

Monroe City Schools serves about 8,900 Monroe students in grades K-12. 

For more information about Monroe City Schools, go online to www.mcschools.net or call 325-0601.
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