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Photo by Skip Lawrence
Middletown Primary teacher Nancy Kelley has been named the 2008 Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award recipient for Frederick County. |
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Middletown -- Kindergarten teacher Nancy Kelley thought she was walking into an empty room at Middletown Primary.To her surprise, in the room was Frederick County Public Schools superintendent Linda Burgee, other administrators, her husband and children. They were there Feb. 25 to inform Kelley that she had been awarded the 2008 Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award for Frederick County. The award, sponsored by The Washington Post, recognizes 19 teachers in public school districts around the capital and one private school teacher. Winners are awarded $3,000. Laurie Bohanan, a volunteer in Kelley's classroom, nominated the educator, who has been teaching for 26 years. "She's just incredible with the kids. I get here at the end of the day when she must be exhausted and you can never tell it," said Bohanan, whose son is in Kelley's class. Middletown Primary principal Mark Pritts said Kelley's greatest strength is teaching her classes to write. "She is really gifted at teaching kids to write," Pritts said. "She just gets them off on a great foundation." Kelley said she tries to make a connection between reading, writing and speaking to help her pupils grasp writing skills. She expects her students to be able to write with capital letters, spacing between their words and proper punctuation. "I think of back when I was in kindergarten, it was about Play-Doh and the work bench," Kelley said. "But kids come to school so well prepared because of vast preschool experiences and parents who instill a strong, enriched variety of experiences for them." Kelley, who had been nominated for the award when she was a teacher at Ballenger Creek Elementary, will be honored May 1 at a reception in Washington. She emphasizes the teamwork with parents and other educators as part of her plan for helping pupils be successful. "I teach my students as if they're my own kids," Kelley said. "And I mean that they get the hairy eyeball when they need it, they have 1 ... 2 ... 3 time out. You praise them. You hug them, and they also have clear (rewards) and consequences."
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