MMS Educator Earns Teacher of the Year Nod

It wasn't the letter he was expecting to receive in the mail. In fact, Garth McKinney said he read the letter twice before it sank in.

McKinney, the Language Arts coordinator at Merrimack Middle School and North Reading resident, was talking about the letter he received over vacation indicating that he was named English Teacher of the Year by the New Hampshire Council of Teachers of English.

McKinney said when  the letter came over vacation announcing that he'd won, he was expecting it would more likely be the letter that said they went with the other finalist.

McKinney was nominated for the award by MMS Principal Debbie Woelflein who said she couldn't be more excited that McKinney was named the winner.

"We are so lucky to have him teaching here," Woelflein said. "He loves to teach. He knows where every single kid in the classroom is with reading. I've never seen anything like it."

Woelflein said his students love him and he brings an amazing energy to the classroom. Every time she's observed his classroom she says she is more and more impressed.

"He's an extremely gifted classroom teacher," Woelflein said, also noting that he also brings strength to his team in his administrative and leadership skills.

McKinney, who is only in his second year at Merrimack Middle School, has been working in education since 1996. Just prior to coming to Merrimack, he was a reading specialist in Salem.

But McKinney brings variety of experience to the classroom having worked as a reading specialist, assistant principal and principal in addition to his classroom experience. He said he's worked with every age-level between kindergarten and eighth grade.

At Merrimack, McKinney McKinney spends part of his day teaching and part of the day collaborating with the other members of his team to work on curriculum and administrative tasks for the language arts department.

"It's like the best of both worlds without giving one up for the other," McKinney said.

He's part of a team that teaches 7th an 8th grades on alternating years, this year working in the 7th grade. Because of the way Merrimack Middle School has integrated its curriculum across the grade level, to make it such that students are all working on the same thing at the same time, McKinney said it adds an element of engagement for the students.

McKinney pointed to a couple of projects on display in his classroom, some dioramas of scenes from books that, if the scene were removed from the storyline would drastically change the plot and milk cartons that are used to summarize the story.

McKinney said by using what they call choices and challenges, students can choose the book they want to read from a selection of themed books and challenge themselves with an accompanying project. The design and execution of this program is one of the highlights McKinney said of his two years in Merrimack so far.

"I remember when I was younger being forced to read the book because it was the teacher's favorite book," McKinney said. "... If I get them motivated to read a good book, half the battle is already won."

By allowing the students to choose the book they are more excited to read it, he said.

Having worked with a variety of ages, McKinney said he truly enjoys loves working in the middle school.

"They're just hilarious," he said. "They are trying to be independent and grown up but they aren't quite there yet."

McKinney said this age group is funny because they've been around and get how to behave in school and they ask more engaging questions than kids just a couple years younger, but they also enjoy things generally associated with younger age groups like read aloud.

He's found that having a common curriculum across the grade-level, something all the teams have spent a lot of time crafting to make work cohesively, helps keep them engaged because they can see what they can compare what they are doing with what their friends are.

Working in Merrimack is so rewarding, McKinney said, praising the other teachers who work so hard to provide a great education to the students and to connect with the parents.

"And we're really lucky because we've got good kids and good parents in this school district," McKinney said. "There are some challenges and some kids make poor choices, but it's nothing in comparison to some of the other districts I've worked in. This is a great community."

McKinney's team threw him a surprise party on Monday with cupcakes celebrating his award. He will be formally recognized at the NHCTE's annual spring banquet, and Woelflein said there will be an announcement made school-wide celebrating McKinney.

For more on the award and a list of past winners, including Mark Holding, a former Merrimack High School teacher who won this award in 2002, visit the NHCTE website.