Facing History Honors 48 Educators with the 2009 Margot Stern Strom Teaching Award
April 8, 2009
The Margot Stern Strom Teaching Award is given annually to teachers who demonstrate a commitment to fostering reflective, interactive, and rigorous learning environments in their classrooms. The recipients are teachers who are implementing the Facing History and Ourselves program and who successfully integrate intellectual, emotional, and ethical dimensions of study into their students' experience. The award makes a grant available to each recipient to complete an in-depth project that leads to higher levels of student engagement and student achievement in the classroom.
Facing History and Ourselves Associate Executive Director Martin Sleeper said, "This award recognizes the power of a teacher to capture the moral imagination of a child in a way that makes the child want to stay engaged and ultimately become an effective, informed and responsible participant in our democracy. A teacher who can master the content and the pedagogy it takes to reach this level of achievement can make an enormous difference in the world."
The award has been given to 104 teachers since it was established in 2006 by a private donor to honor the passion of Facing History and Ourselves' founder and executive director Margot Stern Strom, and the work that Facing History does worldwide to prepare teachers to connect the past to moral choices today. But more than anything, the award was established to honor and highlight the work of outstanding and innovative teachers.
Nina and David Fialkow, Facing History board members and founders of the Margot Stern Strom Teaching Award, said, "We are inspired by these teachers. Their innovative approaches are the epitome of Margot Stern Strom and Facing History's approach to education. It is a privilege for us to recognize their achievements."
Click here to learn more about the winners.
