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“If children are apparently unable to learn, we should assume that we have not as yet found the right way to teach them,” said Marie Clay.
“This is my favorite quote,” said Micheline Huntley, Academic Support Team teacher at Wetzel Elementary School and the Kaiserslautern District Teacher of the Year selected for 2011.
“As a reflective teacher, that’s what I feel I constantly do when something doesn’t work, I search for the right way to teach the students. That is my way of becoming a better teacher.” Academic Support Team teachers are on the “cutting edge,” supporting teachers in the important work they do in ensuring that every child is successful. They do the work of modeling, coaching, consulting and collaborating, using data to create instructional plans and to focus on the differentiated needs of all students, all with a focus on research based best practices that will ensure student success.
That “can do” attitude and willingness to research and probe, never giving up, has a lot to do with the spirit of the success and culture children experience at Wetzel Elementary School. Huntley is the fourth teacher at Wetzel to be selected as the Kaiserslautern District Teacher of the Year within the past five years, and most recently, Principal Helen Balilo was selected National Distinguished Principal of the Year for DODEA.
The culture of learning and belief that all students can learn “when we find the right way to teach them” is the reason for school success. As 2008 Teacher of the Year Shannon O’Dell says about nominating Ms. Huntley, “She is a remarkable educator who continues to selflessly dedicate herself to the teaching profession, for children, parents, and fellow teachers.”
Ms. Huntley joined the Wetzel staff in 2006 as a Reading Recovery teacher and literacy leader after serving three years at Smith Elementary School as a first grade teacher and reading recovery/literacy leader. In addition to her teaching commitments, Ms. Huntley sponsors after school cooking clubs, homework club, Music with Moms & Dancing with Dads activities to provide enrichment opportunities for students and families. This has been crucial in the Baumholder area where the school has supported the families and children through four major deployments.
She has been active in the community, serving as the President of the Baumholder Area Education Association, is an active member of the Ramstein Roadrunners Volksmarch Club and is an usher at the Vogelweh Gospel Service. She represents her Alma Mater, North Carolina A&T State University at the annual Kaiserslautern College Information Night. Huntley’s other DODDS experience includes being a kindergarten teacher in Okinawa for 16 years. Before joining DODDS, Ms. Huntley taught in North Carolina after earning her degree from North Carolina A&T. She went on to earn two Masters Degrees at A&T before coming to DODDS.
When a teacher takes this quote to heart, and does everything in her power to assist colleagues in implementing research based best practices, and guides children so that they become responsible learners reaching for success, you have you have the dream teacher that every school, parent, and child wants and deserves.
Micheline Huntley, the Kaiserslautern District’s choice as Teacher of the Year for 2011, represents the outstanding teachers of the Kaiserslatuern District very well.
