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Teacher of the Year 2019: Joe Hennessey
A CONVERSATION WITH THE 2019 MAINE TEACHER OF THE YEAR, JOE HENNESSEY.
From a small school of just 170 or so students in Guilford, Joe Hennessey, Maine’s 2019 Teacher of the Year, gets down at each student’s level nearly every time he speaks with one. His voice is always calm. His tone consistent. He is a man who admittedly doesn’t smile a lot but has a special way about him that allows him to connect with his students, who weren’t shy about sharing kind words about their Piscataquis Community High School English teacher.
“I love that guy. He’s helpful and he grades fairly. He’s the best teacher in this school—he’s kind hearted outside of school and inside of school,” shared Caleb, a junior in Mr. Hennessey’s class.
Why Joe Hennessey?
When asked why he believes he received such an honor, Mr. Hennessey was quick to divert the attention to those who have taught with him along the way. “No person works in a vacuum,” said Hennessey. “I’m lucky to work in a situation where I can benefit from my colleagues, and if I’ve managed to synthesize their ideas in my teaching, then I suppose I’m deserving,” added Hennessey.
Those colleagues though clearly believe, and don’t suppose he is deserving of the honor, with the superintendent of SAD 4 describing Hennessey’s teaching as an “ability to connect with students at a level that gives them hope and aspirations for the future.”
Hennessey’s future as Teacher of the Year plans to be full of exposure for rural schools and the issues and advantages that come with the territory. Among his goals, Hennessey plans to use his platform and new-found voice to tackle specific challenges like low literacy, functional literacy, and chronic absenteeism.
“Some high schools in our state have a chronic absenteeism rate of 30% or higher, so that’s a serious problem that needs to be addressed,” said Hennessey. One idea he’s already thinking about to help students stay in school is to work with health care providers and social service agencies to keep students in school during the school day by giving kids priority for after school doctor’s appointments. With that modification, there is less of a need to check out during the day and a lower potential of students not coming back.
As Teacher of the Year, Hennessey is poised to use his voice to highlight the profession, having a core belief in public schools as the cornerstone of our democracy. “Education is a public service. Teachers are public servants, and the people, products, and ideas that come out of our schools are public goods. And, one cannot insulate oneself from public goods. We need to make sure we are treating public education as an essential public service, especially in an era of privatization,” said Hennessey.
That’s an idea seemingly every educator could get behind, making Joe Hennessey more than qualified and deserving to shine light on the teaching profession as the 2019 Teacher of the Year.
