Minnesota Teacher of the Year

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 member of his community, an outstanding educator, and an engaging and energetic human being. I’m excited that such a tremendous representative for teachers and education will serve as this year’s Teacher of the Year. Congratulations, Derek! Have a great year!

In speaking with Derek, we decided to continue with the plan formulated in May of opening up the blog all Minnesota Teachers of the Year. This will relieve the pressure of one person trying to maintain a blog during what is often a busy year of serving as Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year, and will provide a forum for any former Minnesota Teachers of the Year to post their educational views and experiences. If you’re a former Minnesota Teacher of the Year and would like to be part of the fun, please contact me.

I will stay on as blog administrator, and will post as time permits. I have begun tweaking the format and making changes to reflect the changing nature of the blog. I hope to complete the changes this week. Derek and I will be meeting tomorrow to get Derek set up as a blog editor. He’s mentioned that he has a post all ready to go, and we should be able to put that up tomorrow evening.