Pride in Public Schools

(FLAME) 2017 Teacher of the Year!

(From left) Lyseth Principal Lenore Williams; Portland Superintendent Xavier Botana; Lyseth Spanish teacher Grecia Caraballo; and Grace Valenzuela, director of PPS' Multilingual & Multicultural Center

Congratulations to Grecia Caraballo, a Spanish Immersion teacher at Lyseth Elementary School in Portland for receiving the Foreign Language Association of Maine (FLAME) 2017 Teacher of the Year award. Caraballo was recognized for demonstrating best practices, engaging in professional growth and serving her students and school community. She is a master teacher with certifications in elementary teaching and Spanish, a rare combination. In selecting Caraballo for the honor, FLAME cited the reasons that make her stand out: “She has a gift for working with children and inspiring them to delve into new experiences and cultural activities. They are excited about Spanish because of her caring guidance and enthusiasm. The engagement of the children in her classroom is remarkable. The students love her, and she is also well thought of in her school. She has organized Professional Learning Communities and worked tirelessly on school concerts, co-curricular chorus and many other

Debra Bickford was named the 2018 Maine Art Educator of the Year by activities in which she deftly incorporated and showcased her work with students in the Spanish classes.” Lyseth’s Spanish program was Maine’s first public language immersion program when it was instituted in 2014. It started in

kindergarten but has added an additional grade level each year. the Maine Art Education Association. Bickford is an educator at Westbrook High School where she believes the art room exists to “help people learn how to learn. We just happen to do it with art.” Bickford received the honor during a ceremony where other 2018 Art Educator of the Year! art educators shined as well. The MAEA also presented Rhonda Miller, Jody Dube, Frank Chin, Mandi Mitchell, Laura Devin, and Anthony Shostak with awards for their contributions to the art community and their students. The MEA congratulates all the art educators who help students succeed in their own unique ways.

Every year the Maine Association of Family and Consumer Sciences elects a Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher of the Year. The 2016-2017 TOY was awarded to Karen Phair, a High School FCS/Health teacher at Dirigo High School in Dixfield, Maine, where she’s taught for nearly 31 years. Michael Poulin, Principal of Dirigo High School, wrote in his nomination letter, "one of Karen's most significant courses serves as a graduation requirement for our students. The course is Future Perspectives, and it is a required course for DHS students. In this course, students are engaged in topics including relationships, consumer skills, legal issues, fiscal management and responsibility, and parenting skills. In addition, communication skills are emphasized. Another key component of this course involves work with the Guiding Principles of Maine's Learning Results. All DHS students are required to demonstrate evidence of having met the Guiding Far left, Karen Phair pictured with the National Teacher of the Year as well as the other Merit Scholar 2016-17 Family Consumer Sciences TOY! Principles. It is in Future Perspectives where students review their four years of education at Dirigo High School and tie those Guiding Principles to their Dirigo experience." Karen was also chosen as a Merit finalist to the national American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, the first in the history of the Maine Family and Consumer Science TOY program to obtain such an honor.