Minnesota Teacher of the Year

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the individual “Why I Teach” videos that each of the 2008 Teachers of the Year created in New York City in late September. Recently, the Pearson Foundation took those videos and had a compilation done with some segments from about half the videos.
You can watch the video [...]

In early October, the Pearson Foundation brought all the 2008 National State Teachers of the Year to New York City to make two-minute videos titled “Why We Teach”. Each Teacher of the Year created a short speech and brought some photos to a Manhattan studio. We spent an afternoon making our videos with the [...]

There are still three weeks left to nominate a teacher for the upcoming 2009 Minnesota Teacher of the Year award. Anyone can nominate a candidate, so if you’ve had a teacher that has had an impact on your life or whose teaching you greatly respect, nominating them for Minnesota Teacher of the Year is a [...]

For my first post I thought I’d start with my comments from the Teacher of the Year press conference:
I am honored and humbled to receive this recognition. I know that my path to this podium is a unique one. But perhaps that will bring focus, in a good way, to the fact that there truly [...]

Every year, Education Minnesota invites present and past Minnesota Teachers of the Year to spend some time at the Education Minnesota booth at the Minnesota State Fair. This coming Tuesday, August 26, is this year’s Teacher of the Year Day at the fair. Derek Olson will be at the booth after 4:30PM. I will be [...]

Mike Geisen, the 2008 National Teacher of the Year, has started blogging about his adventures this school year. As National Teacher of the Year, Mike leaves the classroom for one school year to travel the world and speak about education. He will serve in this role through May of 2009. In addition to his sharp [...]

Congratulations to Derek Olson for being named our new 2008 Minnesota Teacher of the Year! Derek received the award in the wake of Carleen Gulstad’s resignation for personal reasons in June of this year. Derek will make an excellent Teacher of the Year, and is incredibly deserving of the honor. He is a highly respected [...]