J-M instructor wins state Teacher of the Year
Naomi Brandstetter, a fifth-grade student at Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School, had a long list of reasons Monday why Maddie Loring should be named Pennsylvania’s Teacher of the Year.
The fourth-grade math teacher has been Brandstetter’s favorite in all her years of schooling.
She remembered the exciting activities like Surgery Day, where Loring dressed up in a doctor’s white coat and stethoscope and led students through a series of medical-themed stations offering lessons on place value.
And even when the classroom is transformed into an operating room, it’s always a welcoming environment.
“She loves us, she cares about us, she listens and she slays,” Brandstetter said.
All of those qualities added up to a prestigious honor.
Loring was named Pennsylvania’s Teacher of the Year in a ceremony in Hershey Monday afternoon.
She began teaching at Jefferson-Morgan three years ago after nine years as a kindergarten teacher at Carmichaels Elementary School.
Her introduction to the award was seeing a picture of the then-current winner on a website during an in-service training day. She set a goal for herself — not even to receive the award, but “to continue my hard work each day as if I were the Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year.”
“As teachers, we don’t enter this career to be recognized or rewarded,” she said after learning she had, indeed, received the honor. “We enter it because our hearts pull us towards service. So standing here today, this is the most humbling bonus I could ever ask for.”
Loring praised the “joyous community” at Jefferson-Morgan.
“We may not have every single resource, but we more than make up for it in heart, creativity and connection,” she said.
That’s led to activities like Math Madness, which brings math and community resources together for students, or the new drama club at the elementary school.
“These moments build bridges between home and school,” she said. “That’s what makes learning personable and memorable. Public education is a promise that every child in every zip code deserves to be seen, supported and given the chance to become their very best selves.”
Loring had been nominated for the award by her superintendent, Dr. Brandon Robinson. After Monday’s ceremony, he felt “overcome with pride” that one of his teachers had won the award from a field of 170,000 teachers statewide.
“She is the most energetic teacher you’ll ever see,” he said. “Her energy just can’t be matched.”
Loring was among 12 finalists for the annual award, a group that also included Jennifer Nesser, a fifth-grade teacher at R.W. Clark Elementary School in the Laurel Highlands School District.
Loring said she’ll be “forever grateful” to have been brought together with them.
“I have never felt more validated as a teacher than when I met all of you,” she said. “You bring joy into everything you do.”
The district will honor her when she gets back to class later this week, Robinson said. He’s also planning a bigger celebration in January that will include not just her, but the entire staff.
Over the next year, Loring is looking forward to partnering with Gov. Josh Shapiro and the state Department of Education on ways to improve teacher recruitment in the state.
“…If we want that fire to keep burning in Pennsylvania, we must bring new torchbearers into this profession — young teachers, brimming with energy, creativity and that joyful spark that brought so many of us into the classroom years ago,” she said. “We need to invite them in, encourage them and say, ‘Yes, your passion belongs here.'”