Stacy Hoeflich, a fourth grade teacher from John Adams Elementary School in Alexandria, VA, and a 2009-2010 Teachinghistory.org Teacher Representative, is the 2011 Virginia History Teacher of the Year.
The award, presented by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, HISTORY® (History Channel), and Preserve America, honors K-12 teachers for their use of primary documents in the classroom, the level of inspiration they provide their students and their career achievements in education.
An accomplished educator, Ms. Hoeflich has taught elementary school for thirteen years. She has presented at local, state, and national education conferences on teaching history and historical thinking with primary sources.
As a Teacher Representative for Teachinghistory.org, Ms. Hoeflich provided feedback about the website in order to improve its use by educators. She also appears in two Best Practices videos about teaching with maps and teaching with political cartoons.
Dr. Kelly Schrum, Director of Teachinghistory.org, who nominated Ms. Hoeflich for the award, stated: “Hoeflich is devoted to the teaching and learning of history. After seeing the students in her classroom excitedly puzzle over a difficult map created almost four hundred years ago or analyze political cartoons from the last century, students leave her classroom with a lifelong interest in understanding the complexities of the past.”
According to the Gilder Lehrman Institute, Ms. Hoeflich will receive “a $1,000 award, a collection of classroom resources to be presented in [her] name to the school library, and the opportunity to attend a Gilder Lehrman Institute summer seminar.” She is also a finalist for the $10,000 National History Teacher of the Year Award.
Teachinghistory.org, a project of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, is a leader in helping K–12 history teachers access resources and materials to improve U.S. history education in the classroom. Funded through the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement’s Teaching American History (TAH) program, Teachinghistory.org builds on and disseminates the valuable lessons learned by more than 1,000 TAH projects designed to raise student achievement by improving teachers’ knowledge and understanding of U.S. history.