262. Maryland Educator Is Named National Teacher of the Year pdf

Maryland Educator Is Named National Teacher of the Year
Written by Nancy Steinbach
03 May 2006
I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education Report.
A twenty-nine-year-old kindergarten teacher from Maryland has been named National Teacher of the
Year. On June first she will begin a year as a national and international spokeswoman for education.
Kimberly Oliver is the first National Teacher of the Year from her
state. She teaches five-year-old children at a public school in Silver
Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C. President Bush honored her
and other top teachers last week at the White House.
Kimberly Oliver says she wants people to understand that the first years of a child’s life are the most
important for learning. She says investing in children at a very young age will result in great gains
later in school and in life.
She urges parents to read to children from an early age so they do not fall behind in school. One of
the activities at her school is an event called “Books and Supper Night.” Families read together at the
school and receive free books to take home. Parents, children and teachers also eat dinner together.
Broad Acres Elementary School is in a poor area. Many of the parents are immigrants with limited
English. Kimberly Oliver has helped improve learning at her school.
She has received money to buy electronic learning systems, tape players and books in English and
Spanish to send home with students. Parents say she has shown them how to help their children at
home.
She was born and raised in Delaware. She holds one degree in English and another in elementary
education.
Kimberly Oliver will follow in the steps of another teacher from the Washington area as National
Teacher of the Year. The current winner, Jason Kamras, was honored for his work teaching math to
middle school students in the nation’s capital.
The National Teacher of the Year program began in nineteen fifty-two. It is a project of the Council
of Chief State School Officers, with support from the publisher Scholastic and the financial services
company ING.
A fourteen-member committee chooses from among teachers honored as the best in their state.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Read and listen to our

reports at voaspecialenglish.com. Now here is a message for teachers:
Kimberly Oliver and President
Bush on April 26, 2006
If you teach with Special English, let us know. Tell us how, and for what ages and subjects. And
don't forget to tell us where you are from. Write to I’m Steve Ember.