The 2014 Guilford County Schools (GCS) Teacher of the Year was a finalist for a national teaching award.
Karyn Collie Dickerson, an academic coach, is the North Carolina finalist for the National Education Association’s Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence. This award recognizes, rewards, and promotes excellence in teaching and advocacy for the profession.
Dickerson was honored Tuesday night during a special presentation at the Guilford County Schools board meeting and was presented with the plaque and monetary gift.
Dickerson said teaching and her love for reading began as a well-loved pastime when she was a young girl. She used to be an English teacher at Grimsley High School. During her time there, she taught students to use literature as a vehicle for visiting other eras. Even more importantly, she says she wanted her students to learn to reexamine the world around them and to think critically about the vast information around them.
As an academic coach, she says her classroom is much larger now. She says as she encourages educators to gradually release responsibility so students can find success and take ownership for their work. She wants students to learn to think for themselves, never to be afraid of what is different, and to aspire for the world and not just what is in front of them.
Dickerson also serves as an advisory member on the N.C. State Board of Education, as a member of Governor McCrory’s Teacher Advisory Council, as co-chair of the Teacher Recruitment and Training Working Group and as an English Methods Course instructor at Guilford College.
Originally posted on wfmyNews2
