Meet Jill Szymanski, a 4th/5th-grade teacher at Red Clay Consolidated School District in Wilmington, Del., who was recently named the 2013 National History Teacher of the Year.
Ms. Szymanski, a 16-year veteran of the classroom, credits her growth as a history teacher in part to her participation for three years in the Delaware Social Studies Education Project, a grantee of ED’s Teaching American History program. Teaching American History grants support professional development in American history content by stressing the importance of making history engaging and helping students to think like historians. James G. Basker, president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, said Ms. Szymanski has an “ability to push her students to think critically through the use of primary and secondary source documents and visits to historical sites, and her boundless energy.”
The National History Teacher of the Year Award is co-sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, The History Channel, and Preserve America to honor outstanding K–12 educators of American history. The honoree receives a $10,000 prize as well as a trip for her and two students to New York City for an awards ceremony. Click here to read the full article about this year’s awardee on the Gilder Lehrman Institute website.
Cross-posted from Teaching Matters, ED’s newsletter celebrating teachers and teaching.
