Many of you may have heard the name Mr. Jack, or may even know him. But how well do you really know Jack?
Some of you may know he was recently a finalist for the Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year Award this year, but what you may not know is all of the little things that happened within his nomination. Don’t fret, because I’m about to tell you all about it.
A few weeks ago, I interviewed Mr. Jack and learned some very interesting things about the award and what went down. The first step was getting nominated, which Mr. Jack was nominated by Mr. Youngs. After being nominated, he had to go through three rounds, two of which Jack had to write essays, three essays for both rounds one and two. For the third round, he had to write two essays and video tape himself teaching a class. After the first round, he was one of thirty people, after the second round he was one of twelve people, and after the first two rounds the twelve remaining contestants went to Hershey for the third round.
Mr. Jack told me that, “Hershey wasn’t so much competition as it was fun, it was a relaxing event where teachers from all around would listen to speakers and exchange instructional strategies”.
When I asked Jack about his overall feelings, he said that he felt very honored. He also said that he really owed a lot to his colleagues and he was also proud to represent Bethel Park. Now, after everything, Mr. Jack is a member of NSTOY (National State Teacher Of the Year organization). This means that if a school in Allegheny County would be in the need of a teacher to come speak at their school, then they can contact Mr. Jack and he would go speak voluntarily.
When I asked how Jack feels in the aftermath of everything he responded in saying, “It was an exciting week, it was motivational to continue doing what I do knowing about the impact I have, it was also good to be around other people who respect me. It made me see that the opportunities I give to my students are very valuable because they challenge them to think more and/or deeper than they can”.
So now, let me ask you, “Do you know Jack”?