For 2024 Colorado Teacher of the Year Jessica May, ’96, experiential learning is what 教学就是.  

For the eighth graders in her Family and Consumer Sciences courses at Turner Middle 在贝瑟德的学校，这可能意味着 taking care of a “rice baby” for two weeks with no more than three hours away from 任何时候的伪婴儿. 或者，对她的七年级学生来说，可能是计划a redesign of the school’s outdated classroom kitchen before ever baking anything, to teach them bud得到ing, planning, teamwork and conflict resolution. 这种实践教学 isn’t new for May, who’s been in the classroom for 21 years, teaching everything from 英语语言艺术到社会情感学习. 

When May was studying Elementary 教育 at UNC in 1994, the university was piloting a program where college students taught three consecutive semesters at Mary Blair Elementary School in Loveland, which is now part Peakview Academy at Conrad Ball after 去年的一次整合. 一般来说，大学生只花一个学期 教学实习. This elongated and continued experience gave May time to build relationships with her students and teacher mentors, as well as 得到 to know the administrative staff 还有学校. 

Forging strong connections to her school support system has been invaluable for May, and the primary reason for which she attributes her success in winning this award. 

“I didn’t 得到 here alone,” May said, acknowledging the scores of teachers, professors, mentors and administrators who contributed to her success along the way.  

In the classroom, May wants to ensure what she’s teaching applies to students’ lives.  

“Make your content connect to the real world or why are we teaching it,” she said. 

For example, when she taught financial literacy, May brought it back to real-world application by having her students research the average earnings of someone with and without a high school diploma and someone with and without a post-secondary degree. From there she had them calculate the average costs of rent, groceries and gas. 最后, she related this back to a person’s reading level and how not being able to read and comprehend at grade-level impacts a person’s ability to pass a driver’s test, graduate high school and thereby impacting the type, location and level of work they might 得到. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when she and her peers were teaching remotely, they had to determine how to teach four core subjects in only three class periods. 

May and a science teacher decided to combine their courses, English language arts and science, into a single course called “SciComm,” where they co-taught. 这是一部分 science lesson and part reading and comprehension of the science text.  

Jared Stallones, dean of UNC’s College of 教育 and Behavioral Sciences, said that all of these experiences speak to why May was nominated for, and ultimately won 这个奖项.  

“Jessica’s selection for this award reflects UNC’s long tradition of excellence in 老师准备. The fact that nearly one in three of all Colorado Teacher of the Year Award recipients are UNC graduates underscores our role as the premier teacher preparation institution in the state, as well as our deep commitment to education 在科罗拉多州，”史泰龙说.

The Colorado Teacher of the Year award is supported by the Boettcher Foundation and 丹佛7. 下面是掘金7队的公告:

May will spend the next year serving as an ambassador of sorts for the state’s teachers and will join the education commissioner’s Teacher Cabinet, a state advisory panel 根据非营利教育组织的数据 Chalkbeat科罗拉多. She’ll also represent Colorado in the National Teacher of the Year competition, 参观白宫，参加NASA太空营. 

五月是十八号th 皇冠app官方版下载校友被评为年度最佳教师. 自 Colorado Department of 教育 began recognizing exceptionally dedicated, knowledgeable 以及熟练的K-12课堂教师 in 1963, about 30%, or one in three of awardees, has been a UNC alum. Known as Colorado’s teacher of teachers, the university has graduated more than 50% 科罗拉多的教育专业人士. 

这些教师中的许多人在年度会议上开始了他们的旅程 未来教师大会，过去九年一直由联合国军司令部主办. 这次活动汇聚了整个高中，老师 Cadet and community college students for a series of hands-on workshops and experiential sessions led by student teachers (current UNC students), local educators and veteran 以及皇冠app官方版下载的教职员工.  

One of the many lessons learned during the full-day conference is that a teacher’s job is never done, and that being actively present is a job that takes both skills 和掌握. 

对梅来说，这在她的整个职业生涯中都是如此.  

“我从不坐在办公桌前. 我从不评分. 我从不查看邮件. 我集中 孩子们，”梅告诉记者 伯瑟德每周验船师 皇冠app安卓下载安装她的教学经验.

——Christina Abel写的.