Sunday, October 13, 2013

Call for First Annual WARC Reading Teacher of the Year Nominations

     Hello friends of WARC! There is an exciting new component to the Williamsburg Area Reading Council. This school year marks the first year for the Williamsburg Area Reading Council's Reading Teacher of the Year! In order to be nominated, the nominee must be a current member of WARC for the 2013-14 school year. (If someone is nominated but is not yet a member, the nominee would need to become a member of WARC in order to be eligible.) The fabulous teacher who is recognized as the honoree for WARC's Reading Teacher of the Year will go on to represent WARC at the state level. The Virginia State Reading Association would select the 2013-14 Virginia State Reading Association Teacher of the Year from the groups of nominees from the VSRA chapters across the state. In addition to this, the WARC Reading Teacher of the Year would win a $250 Professional Development Award!

    
    Nominations for WARC Teacher of the Year are due to WARC by November 6th. Current WARC members received an email on Sunday, October 13th with specific application information which is required by the state. (Please be sure that any email filters do not block emails from vsrawilliamsburg@gmail.com.) The nominee needs to teach reading for at least a 1/3 of a school day in order to qualify. The WARC Reading Teacher of the Year nominee would need 2 letters of recommendation; one letter should be from the person who nominates the educator and the other one should be from a current administrator. A current resume, a typed reading philosophy statement, and a digital photo of the candidate would also be a requirement as part of the WARC nomination process. Please click here to see the specific guidelines and official application form via Google Docs. As noted in the application, any omitted item that is required for the application will unfortunately forfeit the application for eligibility. 

    The person who is recognized as the Williamsburg Area Reading Council of the Year Teacher of the Year would then need to be prepared to provide a bit more information in order to go on to the state level. The winner at the state level would win $500 to use towards materials or a project involving his or her own classroom! State nominees would need to prepare a statement explaining how they would creatively use the $500 in his or her classroom.
    
     The Williamsburg Area Reading Council will hold an award reception to honor the WARC Reading Teacher of the Year on February 27, 2014. In addition to honoring the winner, all nominees will be recognized at the reception. More details will be forthcoming in the near future. The new WARC officers will be installed at the February 27th gathering as well. Current members, please consider nominating a fantastic colleague who inspires you and others in the area of reading instruction!