Davis Drive Middle Teacher is Wake County Teacher of the Year
May 13, 2004 - Davis Drive Middle School teacher Marcella Cox is the 2003-2004 Wake County Teacher of the Year.
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Superintendent Bill McNeal presented Cox the Wake County Teacher of the Year Award sponsored by Wachovia Bank at tonight's banquet. McNeal praised Cox for earning the school system's highest honor. She was applauded by hundreds of community and education leaders attending the event.
Cox is a sixth-grade social studies teacher, who has been teaching at Davis Drive for six years and has been a teacher for 11 years.
Davis Drive Middle principal Linda Bird says Cox is an outstanding teacher.
"Marcella creates excitement in her classroom," Bird said. "She is a kind and compassionate person. Her teaching team is involved heavily in community service projects throughout the year."
Cox's classes have visited residents of the Parkway Retirement Center and students of the Governor Morehead School for the Blind. She has been an active supporter of the Battaglino Charity Fund, which benefits the UNC Children's Hospital, Exploris Museum, Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Rochester, N.Y. Museum and Science Center.
Students Noreen Refai and Lauren Rackley say Cox is one of the best teachers they have ever had.
"She knows how to make something like the "Middle Ages" one of the most fun parts of the year!" they write. "She's always smiling, a trait every teacher should have. She hardly ever reads from the book. We always did something rather than just read about it. Mrs. Cox knows how to make class fun for everyone.
Cox says history and social studies are her passion.
"Through simulations, cooperative group work, friendly competition, games, delving into moral dilemmas, considering various perspectives and allowing for independent study, I stimulate my students to become caught up in the subject matter, to question and rethink their own beliefs, and to contemplate the "what ifs" in history and contemporary times," Cox said. "I plan each of my units to involve cognitive acquisition assignments with depths of thought, skills-based activities, and emotional responses. Students are actively involved in the social studies classroom that I teach."
At her school, Cox is a team leader, on the school improvement team, leadership team, social studies club sponsor and a mentor teacher. She earned National Board Certification in November 2000.
As the Wake County Teacher of the Year, Cox will represent Wake County in the North Carolina Teacher of the Year competition. She succeeds Johnny Gatlin, a Middle Creek High teacher and finalist for state Teacher of the Year.
Wake County's Teacher of the Year receives a prize package worth thousands of dollars, including use of a Saturn automobile for a year, a $1,000 cash prize, an IBM Thinkpad computer, and gift certificates from various local merchants.
Cox was selected after a comprehensive screening and application process, which included a written and videotaped portfolio. Finalists are interviewed by the selection committee.
Ten finalists were chosen from a field of 125 school-based nominees from all over Wake County, which was narrowed to 20 semifinalists.
The nine finalists receive a $250 cash prize and an array of other gifts. They are Claire Bambara, West Lake Elementary; Michael J. Clinkscales, Broughton High; E. Anne Cunningham, Carnage Middle; Karen D'Elia, Reedy Creek Elementary; Lara Spence Fricke, Wakefield Middle; Brandy Garrett, Creech Road Elementary; Susan M. Lobasso, Cary High; Janine Abbate Maldonado, Fox Road Elementary; Barbara J. Sorensen, Penny Road Elementary.
This is the first year that Wachovia Bank has sponsored the
Wake County Teacher of the Year Award and banquet.
-wcpss-
You can read more about the finalists at http://www.wcpss.net/news/2004_toy_finalists/