The "Singing Science Teacher" Beth Vernon, and good friend of the IM community, among finalists to be inducted into the "National Teacher Hall of Fame."

Courtesy of The Examiner:

When Beth Vernon pulled back the blue cloth draped on a large sign in the center of the Brittany Hill Middle School gymnasium, she was expecting to see something connected to the recently passed bond issue. 

Instead, she saw a picture of herself with the words “National Teacher Hall of Fame” in big letters. 

“I am shocked and amazed,” said the Brittany Hill science teacher. “I am blown away by all the praise that has landed on me.” 

Vernon found out during a surprise assembly Tuesday that she is among the five nominees to be inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. One of the other nominees is also from the Kansas City area - Darryl Johnson, a language arts teacher at Smithville High School. Only three teachers, including Vernon and Johnson, from Missouri have gained membership into the National teachers Hall of Fame. 

“I was ecstatic when I found out she was a finalist,” said Dallas Truex, principal at Brittany Hill. “It is her creativity that makes her stand out. She understands how the brain works and understands adolescents. She uses that information in her classroom.”

Some of my long time visitors may remember when I first wrote about Beth back in January of last year. If that does not jog your memory perhaps this video of her singing will do the trick.

Since then she has been a frequent visitor to this blog and we have kept in email contact intermittently.

This is what she wrote to me about her nomination: 

We are five representing five million teachers. I want to speak up for my fellow teachers and students around the country…and use this moment to shine a light for our profession. I would ask you what you want me to tell "Arne" next month when I meet him and his circle--but I think I already know….and it is what I wrote about in my essay #5: What are the two biggest problems in education and what are you doing about them? 

I identified the problems as "Standardized Testing has unintended consequences" and "At a time when teachers need the most time and space to learn how to be better, they have the least time and the most burdens". My whole essay was based on the brand new neuroscience of learning. 

Beth Vernon is EXACTLY the kind of articulate, engaged, and creative teacher that we need more of in our public school classrooms.  And I am proud to number her among my friends.

Way to go Beth!