2009 Outstanding First-Year Teacher Award

The California Association for Employment in Education (CAEE) recently recognized an outstanding first-year teacher in California for her unique and creative contribution to the education profession. The recipient received a $500 cash award.
Criteria for the awards included: special accomplishments, unique and creative contributions, highlights of instructional skills, interaction with students, parents and peers, and innovative programs and projects which distinguished the nominees from other first-year teachers.
CAEE links colleges, universities, school systems, students and education professionals to encourage employment in the field of education. CAEE membership consists of school district hiring personnel along with college and university education placement professionals.

The Award Winner:

(pictured second from right)

Michel Masuda-Nash 4th Grade Murray Elementary School Dublin Unified School District

Dear California Association for Employment in Education Board:

On behalf of the Dublin Unified School District, representing Murray Elementary’s staff, I am proud to nominate Michel Nash for recognition as an outstanding first year teacher.

Michel is a naturally gifted teacher who always carries herself with professionalism and poise. Her demeanor is soft-spoken, compassionate, gentle, and reassuring yet firm. She sets high expectations for her students and supports them as they rise to the occasion.

Typically, a new teacher’s lesson plans are overly reliant on the adopted text and they lack breadth and depth of content. Michel’s lessons take into consideration the wide range of students in her class. Teaching both GATE and EL students demands that her lessons be well prepared and offer depth and complexity while at the same time providing scaffolding for the students who need access to the basic understandings of the curriculum. Additionally, she supplements the curriculum, providing fun and unique learning opportunities for the entire 4th grade. For instance, Murray’s American Indian Unit radically changed when Michel found the “Indian Alliance” website. Students worked in cooperative tribes to create a report and a technology-enhanced, graphical presentation displaying their increased depth of understanding well beyond the words of the textbook. During the culminating event, the Alliance Ceremony, tribes were honored with music, homemade necklaces, and certificates.

After delivering lessons, she spends time analyzing what worked in the classroom and what needs to be taught next. She has an innate sense of when students need to be re-taught, go deeper, or advance in the curriculum. Another natural ability is her visionary grasp of the complete curricular picture. From this vision she then backwards-maps curriculum, providing differentiated learning opportunities for the length of the unit. Her quest to find the best teaching methodologies for instructional delivery is unparalleled when compared to other novice teachers. For example, concerned for her student’s mastery of the 4th grade Math concepts, Michel recognized that further progress was still required before year’s end. Therefore, she backwards-mapped the remaining curriculum and designed a Math Challenge that included differentiated mini lessons, “Do Now’s”, and games, ensuring that the 4th grade students had every opportunity to master the curriculum in an engaging way.

Organized and efficient describes her classroom. Every single minute of classroom instruction is utilized to its fullest. Michel arrives at school early and works late in addition to coming in every weekend to make sure that she knows exactly what she is teaching and is well prepared. She quickly learns new instructional concepts and then integrates them into her teaching repertoire. When faced with new scientific information she learns all she can about the subject, then she distills and synthesizes her learning into easy to understand concepts for her students. As an example, during a recent geology unit, she tackled the formation of one of our local

geological spectacles, Mt. Diablo. After instructing her class on the unit, she fearlessly led her class on a field trip that explored all 3,849 vertical feet passing through the multitude of environs on the mountain during a cold, blustery day.

Her background in social work helps her empathize with students; even with the most demanding student behaviors. She is calm and patient under pressure and her focus is always to help her students make good decisions. Before class begins, Michel conferences with students who need direction for the day. Then, throughout the day, she can be seen giving feedback to students who require it. As the teaching day ends, Michel holds a conference with a particular student who often needs to debrief and reflect on their behavior so that they can make better choices the next day. Entwined through all of these interactions Michel pervades mutual respect, treating each student with dignity.

On a school-wide basis, Michel involves herself in a wide variety of activities. In support of our reading goals, she helped organize our Dr. Seuss Night, a celebration of literature and reading comprehension. In preparing her 4th grade students for their 5th grade camp experience, she helped raise funds for camp tuition in conjunction with our Parent Faculty Club. Serving on district committees, she is presently evaluating new health curricula, which has character education components; a subject that is near and dear to her heart. On a voluntary basis she conducts an after school study club which supports students in their learning. Michel’s work touches students well beyond the walls of her classroom.

As a crowning accomplishment, she is brilliant with new technology. Dublin Unified installed interactive SmartBoards in the classrooms this past year. From the moment of installation, she began utilizing this tool. Daily agendas, interactive lessons, historical pictures, and flash videos from YouTube were incorporated into her lessons on a daily basis. Her fast acquisition of skills enabled her to take advanced classes from our technology mentor only months after receiving the new equipment.

Michel Nash is a remarkable second career, first year teacher who epitomizes what CAEE stands for. She is more than worthy of recognition for the CAEE outstanding first year teacher award.

Sincerely,


Richard Boster, Principal Murray Elementary School