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Two local teachers semifinalists for McGlothlin awards

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

The race to Costa Rica has kicked into high gear.
Two local high school teachers – one each from Bland and Wythe County Public Schools – have been recognized as semi-finalists for the 2008 McGlothlin Awards for Teaching Excellence.
And each of them now is one step closer to their tropical dream.
Nicole Hayes, a second-year science teacher at Rural Retreat High School, and Tanya Sollien, in her eighth year as a Spanish teacher at both Bland and Rocky Gap high schools, are two of the 10 teachers in the secondary education category to make the semi-final round.
Eight teachers made semi-finalist status in the elementary education category.
Each division winner will receive $25,000 – with $10,000 of the prize money required to be used by the educator for an international trip to a destination of his or her choice.
The teachers get to relax and visit tourist sites, while also broadening their educational horizons with experiences they can bring back to the classroom.
According to a press release from Blue Ridge PBS, which administers the awards, three finalists from each level will be selected in February 2008 and the winner in each category will be announced April 17, 2008, at Radford University.
Hayes heard that she made the top 10 on Nov. 15 when she got a call from the Enterprise.
“I’m surprised really because most of the competition is pretty tough,” she said.
Teachers from select Blue Ridge school districts in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia are eligible for the honor.
Although the two local nominees have different reasons for their travel plans, both said they have Costa Rica in mind as a possible destination if they win.
Sollien hopes to go on a Latin America swing through Mexico, Costa Rica and Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. She said she went to Piedras Negras, Mexico, this past summer on a mission trip and would like to return there to help build homes and work at an animal shelter before continuing on to the other countries for more Spanish language immersion.
“It would give me much more practice using the language,” Sollien said about the educational benefits of her trip. “You can only learn so much from books.”
Hayes took three trips with students to Costa Rica during her five years teaching in Dickenson County prior to moving to Rural Retreat. If she wins the McGlothlin Award, she said she would like to travel to Belize, Costa Rica and Nicaragua to study the geology of volcanoes and visit rainforests.
According to their principals, both local educators nominated for the award use many innovative techniques and show a passion for their jobs.
“She’s just a young, energetic teacher who’s really geared toward the students,” Rural Retreat Principal Michael Neal said about Hayes. “It would be a great honor for her.”
Sollien, who has been teaching for nearly 15 years, said she strives to increase class participation by her students at the two high schools.
“The classroom does belong to the kids,” she said.
In order to get her students involved in learning the language, Sollien often uses Total Physical Response Storytelling, where sign language and props are incorporated as visual reinforcers to vocabulary.
She also said that her Spanish III class at Rocky Gap has been helping to teach elementary school students basic Spanish.
“It’s really the students that make your job easy,” she said.
Two Rocky Gap teachers previously have claimed the secondary-level McGlothlin Award in the eight years it has been offered.
Former science teacher Deborah Anderson received the honor in 2003 and traveled to the United Kingdom, and in 2006, history and technology teacher John Dodson got the prize, which he used this year to attend an oral history conference in London and travel around England.
“We’re very excited,” Rocky Gap Principal Eric Workman said about Sollien’s semi-finalist status. “I’m very proud of all the faculty here at Rocky Gap High School.”
The teachers now have some more work to do as they progress in the competition. Before the current group is cut down to the finalists, each teacher must submit a lesson plan and a 20-minute video of himself teaching the material to students.
Judges grade the teachers on their interaction with their students, as well as their use of technology in the classroom.
Both Hayes and Sollien said they aren’t too nervous about the next step of the competition, adding that they regularly incorporate technology into their teaching style anyway.
“I do use PowerPoint presentations quite a bit with embedded video,” Sollien said.
Hayes said she uses a lot of online labs in her earth science and ecology classes.
As the field of eligible educators narrows for the award, both Hayes and Sollien said they are cautiously optimistic that they will be the teacher that ends up with an exotic trip.
“I’m hopeful,” Hayes said. “It would be nice – again there is a lot of competition.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .