Schools

Cathedral City Teacher Named a California Teacher of the Year

The other four teacher of the year honorees are from Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento and Solano counties.

A Cathedral City middle school teacher was named one of five 2014 California Teachers of the Year Monday.

Jessica Pack teaches sixth-grade language arts, social studies and technology at James Workman Middle School, part of the Palm Springs Unified School District. 

The other honorees are from Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento and Solano counties; finalists and semifinalists will be honored by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson at a Feb. 3 gala, according to the California Department of Education.

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Two Riverside County teachers were named semifinalists -- Ashley Hayball, a fourth-grade teacher at Amelia Earhart Elementary School of International Studies in Indio and Lisa Stallings, a first-grade teacher at Coronita Elementary School in Corona.

"These outstanding teachers have my thanks and admiration for the work they do every day to provide our students with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities they need to succeed," Torlakson said. "They bring talent, dedication, and more to a job that is as critical as it is challenging – and even more rewarding."

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On her application for Teacher of the Year, Pack wrote that she is "constantly learning and changing as a professional in order to transform my classroom further and reach my students more effectively than ever before." She is president of the local chapter of Computer Using Educators and has taught at James Workman for eight years, according to the Department of Education.

County offices of education nominate candidates for the award through their regional Teachers of the Year competitions, and a state committee reviews applications and does site visits to evaluate criteria including  teachers' rapport with students, classroom environment, presentation skills and teaching methods. Teachers are interviewed at the Department of Education in Sacramento, and the state superintendent picks the honorees, according to the Department of Education.

– City News Service


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