Montclair Names Drury Thorp District Teacher of the Year

Watchung School math teacher Drury Thorp was named District Teacher of the Year by the Montclair Board of Education Monday night.

Thorp has been teaching in the district for 18 years, and was called a “dynamic, engaging and student-centered” teacher by Superintendent Penny MacCormack.

The meeting was held in the Montclair High School Auditorium to accommodate an anticipated large audience for Thorp’s recognition, as well as teacher of the year recognitions for each school in the district. The announcements were timed with Teacher Appreciation Week, May 6-10.

Thorp has an intimate history with Montclair. Both her parents taught in the district and she attended Watchung School herself, according to an interview on the district’s website.

Thorp takes math seriously, but uses humor to get through to her students, integrating songs and games in her lessons.

Earlier in her career she taught second grade, but she said she has found her niche teaching fifth graders.

“I love working with kids this age and seeing the changes they go through. And I love getting to the higher order thinking with them and going deeper, encouraging them not just to solve math problems, but to look at the ‘why’ of them,” she said in the interview.

The district also presented individual school teacher of the year awards Monday night.

Montclair Schools Individual Schools Teachers of the Year

Louis DeBello Bradford School

Jill Jackman  The Charles H. Bullock School

Lucie Fernandes-Melhuish Edgemont School

Rosalind Thompson  Glenfield School

Marjorie Noval  Hillside School

Shana Stein  Montclair High School

Jennifer Kosuda  Mount Hebron School

Caitlyn Adamo  Nishuane School

Laura Orta  Northeast School

John Garzon  Renaissance School