LCS teacher Tom Foster has been selected to receive the 2013 Virginia Lottery “Super Teacher” award, and he was honored during a surprise presentation at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation.
Nearly 800 teachers from eight regions across the state are nominated for this award each year, and only one is selected from each of those eight regions. The Dunbar teacher is well-known throughout the division for his excellence in the teaching profession. “Mr. Foster can be ‘caught’ on any given day leading his students in his original science-based rap songs and accompanying dance moves, carrying live animals around the classroom using them to illustrate his lessons, conducting field tests around the school or using lasers in his lessons on global warming,” said nominator and former colleague Renae Hoffman.
Mr. Foster wins a $2,000 cash prize and an additional $2,000 classroom credit. DMS will also be in the running for a public vote this fall to receive $5,000 in classroom supplies.
The “Super Teachers” were selected by a panel of distinguished educators and community leaders, including Dr. Jo Lynne DeMary (former State Superintendent for Public Instruction), Dr. Martha Ross (professor emerita, JMU), The Honorable James W. Dyke (former Virginia Secretary of Education), Anne Carson (President of the Virginia PTA) and Steve Ahn (2012 Super Teacher Award Recipient, Abingdon High School). The judges selected the eight winners based on the strength of the nominations and educators’ qualities as exemplified by the nominator. Each nomination included answers to four questions addressing everything from the teacher’s passion for and commitment to the profession, to innovation and creativity in the classroom, to how they involve the parents of their students.