TACEI 2009 Classroom Teacher Excellence Award
Elementary Teacher

Anna Lewis

Anna Lewis is an exemplar veteran teacher. She teaches 3rd graders at Munford Elementary School in Munford, Tennessee.  Prior to that, she taught 4th graders for 13 years. Her favorite subject to teach is math and she prefers to teach via small groups, student self-paced lessons, and discovery learning.  Her strengths include classroom management and parental contact.  Her special interests are Reading fluency and comprehension strategies.  As with all teachers, she has numerous funny stories that she gained through her many years of teaching.  She shares…

I had to administer a Reading test, which consisted of ten problems; 1-9 were on one sheet and #10 was on a second sheet.  Using the copy machine, I placed #10 on the backside of the 1-9 worksheet.  Having a technical deficit, it came out upside down on the back.  As I passed out the tests, I reminded students #10 was on the back and I had accidentally copied it upside down.  One young boy raised his hand and very seriously said, "Ms. Lewis, I can't read upside down."

Angela Pope

Angela Pope is in her 6th year of teaching . She teaches 4th graders at Cedar Grove Elementary School Smyrna, Tennessee.  She is a teacher consultant for the Middle Tennessee Writing Project (MTWP) , as well as  the coordinator for Youth Projects for MTWP.  This year, she began a writers' club that meets once a week for an hour.  She has 25 students who  participate each week. 

She is an outstanding teacher whose main focus is  on her children and what is developmentally appropriate for them.  She motivates and inspires her children to do their very best.

Ron Coffey

Ron Coffey teaches 5th graders at Fairview-Margarette Elementary School in Morristown, Tennessee. He is a highly motivating teacher, who believes and practices the importance of building relationships with his students first, and then they will learn.  He believes that learning can and should be fun.  He uses music, movement, and games to motivate his students.  He is also a wonderful story teller to “hook” his students, and prepare them to learn.  The most important factor to his high scores and student progress is he loves his job, and the kids know that he loves them as well.  He will call and check on previous students every year to let them know someone cares about how they are doing in school, and the parents do not mind because he has proven he cares about the child’s success.  He has students cry, scream with joy, and jump up and down with excitement when he makes his start of the year calls.

Ron realized that children love and learn through music.  He has proven that songs really do attach to memory, and uses music often in his classroom.  with written an American History CD and a Language Arts CD for classroom use.  The songs are filled with tested facts and standards.