Sherri Harkins Named Maryland Language Teacher Of The Year

Sherri Harkins of Pittsville Elementary and Middle and Willards Elementary Named Maryland Language Teacher of the Year

Sherri Harkins, who uses French language and culture to give students K-8 at Pittsville Elementary and Middle and Willards Elementary a world view, has been named the Maryland Language Teacher of the Year by the Maryland Foreign Language Association.

“My students constantly remind me of the value of language learning,” Harkins said. “Through their challenges and triumphs, I see how the lessons learned through a language and its culture do more than match up with content standards. The ability to communicate with others is the single greatest skill which unites the human race. My students find joy in simple greetings to total strangers in another language. They are excited to hear someone speaking a language other than English and to use their best listening strategies to decipher meaning.”

Harkins will now represent Maryland next spring in the regional selection process for Foreign Language Teacher of the Year sponsored by the Northeast Council for Teachers of Foreign Language. The NECTFL conference will be held in Baltimore next year. The winner at that level will compete in November 2011 for the title of National Language Teacher of the Year, as named by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

“I have known and worked with Mrs. Harkins for eight years, and I am continually impressed by all she embodies as a professional educator,” said Ruth F. Malone, Director of Curriculum and Professional Development and Harkins’ former world language supervisor. “Mrs. Harkins is a model of what a caring professional educator should be. She is concerned about the well being of her students, constantly looking for new resources and ideas to bring into her classroom, and willing to invest countless hours and energy toward advocacy for language learning.”

Harkins' honor is one of many pieces of good news for Wicomico County Public Schools, which in the past few months has had one school (Northwestern Elementary) named a Maryland and National Blue Ribbon School, opened a new school building (James M. Bennett High) one year ahead of schedule, and had students compete on the national level in robotics, SkillsUSA and Destination ImagiNation.

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