Gwinnett County Public Schools named Katie Blum, a second-grade teacher at Sugar Hill Elementary School, as the district’s teacher of the year in a Thursday night ceremony.
“Although many students may remember little about their second grade year, my students will leave second grade with strengthened abilities to question and think critically, and most importantly, to believe in themselves to succeed,” Blum said in a news release.
Blum has been a teacher for five years, all within Gwinnett County. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in teacher education from the University of Tennessee, and a specialist’s degree in teacher leadership from Georgia College & State University.
She uses non-linguistic graphic organizers and culturally relevant learning to help students be successful, according to the school district. Almost a quarter of Sugar Hill students are learning English as a second language, according to state data. Blum is also a co-leader of her school’s teacher mentoring program.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
She will receive $1,000 each year for as long as she is employed with Gwinnett County Public Schools. She also received a crystal peach, a $500 grocery store gift card and basket, a commemorative ring and the use of a new car for one year.
The district Thursday named Kelley Donovan, a sixth-grade humanities teacher at Coleman Middle, as Middle School Teacher of the Year and Philip Peavy, cybersecurity and game design teacher at Paul Duke STEM High School, as high school teacher of the year. They will each receive $750 each year they remain employed with the school district. All three teachers also received laptops.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
The other three finalists were Lena Alonso of Lilburn Elementary School, Julianne Purnell of Five Forks Middle School and Danielle Swaby of South Gwinnett High School. The school district held a small live-streamed celebration for all six finalists Thursday at the instructional support center near Suwanee, where Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks announced the winner.
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