Friday, December 2, 2011
Education Kim Wilson of Monticello is teacher of year
Posted by Max Brantley on Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 11:06 AM
Kimberly Kaye Wilson, a visual art teacher in Monticello, is the Arkansas Teacher of the Year. She'll get $15,000 and be considered for national honors.
Photo credit: Kevin Briggs of Arkansas Department of Education.
NEWS RELEASE
Kimberly Kaye Wilson, a visual art teacher at Monticello High School, today received the honor of being named Arkansas Teacher of the Year during a surprise assembly at her school. Presenting the award were Governor Mike Beebe and Arkansas Education Commissioner Dr. Tom Kimbrell.
"Kimberly Wilson represents what is right and wonderful about public school education," Kimbrell said. "It's good to be in Monticello today to focus attention on teaching excellence."
Wilson has 16 years of teaching experience. She has bachelor's degrees from Winthrop University in South Carolina and Trinity College in Vermont and master's degrees from Kent State University in Ohio and the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Her resume includes teaching positions in the Monticello and Hamburg school districts and at the University of Vermont.
"Kim Wilson is a shining example of what a teacher should be: creative, talented and knowledgeable in her chosen field and above all caring about the needs and education of each child," said Mary Donaldson, principal of Monticello Intermediate School. "She is truly a master educator."
Wilson was among four finalists announced in September for the award. She was recommended to Kimbrell to receive the honor after a team from the Department of Education visited each of the finalists at their schools and observed them in their classrooms. The other finalists were: Matthew Garrett of Rogers, Kara Jones of Conway, and Shelina Mashail Warren of Pine Bluff.
Kathy Smith of the Walton Family Foundation, which has long been a sponsor of the award, presented Wilson with a check for $15,000. Wilson will be the Arkansas nominee for the National Teacher of the Year and spend the 2012-2013 school year working in-residence at the Department of Education as a special advisor.
Speaking of Kim Wilson, Arkansas Teacher Of The Year
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Conway teacher wins national honors
March 1, 2012Kathy Powers, an intermediate school literacy teacher in Conway and the 2011 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, has been named one of 35 winners of a national teaching award. /more/
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Comments (10)
Showing 1-10 of 10
-Two Bachelor degrees
-Two masters degrees
-16 yrs teaching experience
What ever set of conditions or motivations resulted in Kim being at Monticello High School, a public school, I don't know. However, I'm thankful she's there.
Now, question to WalMart school privateers: How many people with those credentials do you think will be attracted to teach in Arkansas? At your low-paid privatized schools?
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Interesting and quite telling: Until this post, there were 10 comments about the geese in Burns Park and 0 about Kimberly Kaye Wilson, the award-winning master educator at Monticello. Is our kids learning? Is our teachers appreciated?
Congrats Ms. Wilson, and best wishes for continued success!
Thanks for that great post, eLwood. You sneaked in while I was typing! Glad there are at least two of us.
By our current educational reform logic, the only reason she was Teacher of the Year was the quest for that $15K bonus. And clearly that is not the case.
Congrats to her!
Well, OLR, there are now three of us. But the geese are up to 17. I think they'll win going away!
Kimberly makes me want to go back to teaching, but that would make me a double-dipper and all of Arkansas' crazed Republican legislators would not like that.
In all actuality, she exemplifies what is right with public education.
May her numbers increase.
Congratulations to Ms. Wilson. Arkansas is lucky to have someone with that much education teaching for the low salaries that teachers make. They are the most under-appreciated people and most are in the profession because they want to make a difference.
My mother was a teacher; my sister was a teacher. I even thought about it briefly until I realized that students deserved better than me. But I have always admired and supported public school teachers. I endorse what has been said above, and i condemn the efforts to privatize, and democratize, public schools. Nothing has been more important in creating American democracy than public schools. When parents put their children into private academies, they are diminishing the American experience, and they are depriving their children. Congratulations to the young lady in Monticello. I wish we could honor more of your colleagues.
Being a teacher in a public school is a tough job--I speak from experience. I went on to do other things, but come from a long line of teachers--grandfather, father, aunt and cousin. My ex-husband also was a teacher and one of my kids teaches in public schools. I have nothing but respect for the many teachers who dedicate their careers to teaching our children. Anything that we can do to honor them is great. It's too bad that we can't reward more of them.
All of America's K-12 teachers are underpaid but as salaries go, Arkansas is a very good state to teach in, especially among the Southern States with reasonable cost of living. We are ranked very high in our renumeration of our teachers.
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