Salem Middle Teacher is 2005 Wake County Teacher of the Year

May 12, 2005 - Salem Middle School teacher William Ferriter is the 2004-05 Wake County Teacher of the Year.

Superintendent Bill McNeal presented Ferriter the Wake County Teacher of the Year Award sponsored by Wachovia Bank at tonight's banquet. McNeal praised Ferriter for earning the school system's highest honor. He was applauded by hundreds of community and education leaders attending the event.

Ferriter is a sixth-grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher, who helped to open the new middle school and has been a teacher for 12 years.

Salem Middle principal Matt Wight says Ferriter is passionate about teaching and learning

"Bill is constantly pushing students to stretch themselves," said Wight. "Bill's classroom is active, lively and engaging. He has the rare gift of being able to match the students' enthusiasm, and channel them into classroom activities that build on their energy and excitement."

Ferriter says he works to provide learning experiences in his classroom that help students find true knowledge.

"I believe that true knowledge is only developed when the preconceived notions that students currently hold about topics are challenged with new evidence or experience," he said. "Teachers must identify these preconceived notions and present new experiences to challenge them. These experiences will raise conflict in the minds of children. Through a process of mental struggle, students independently attempt to justify what they previously held as true with the new, contrary experience. This process of mental struggle is learning in its purest form."

In one learning experience Ferriter created for his students, he challenged them to consider whether they would join the Danish resistance during World War II.

"The children were clearly motivated and engaged in a powerful conversation where their personal thoughts were challenged," he said. "What I enjoyed most about the lesson was watching individual students consider new perspectives, mentally revise their initial positions and move around the room from station to station."

Ferriter has worked hard to develop ways for teachers to share their experiences. Working with the Department of Recruitment and Retention, he created a digital forum that Wake County candidates for National Board certification can use to seek advice from certified teachers. He actively participated in the Teacher Leaders Network, which uses technology to link beginning teachers with established teachers who offer advice. He worked as a Teacher in Residence for the Southeast Center for Teaching Quality helping to analyze the results of the 2004 Governor's Teacher Working Conditions Survey.

Ferriter is a leader at his school who is passionate about using technology to enhance teaching and communication. He earned National Board Certification in 1997.

As the Wake County Teacher of the Year, Ferriter will represent Wake County in the North Carolina Teacher of the Year competition. He succeeds Marcella Cox, a Davis Drive Middle School teacher.

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.

Ferriter 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 128 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 Che-Von Stone of East Millbrook Middle; Edward Kelley of Combs Elementary; Elizabeth Henning of Lincoln Heights Elementary; Frank Adamkiewicz of Lockhart Elementary; Jane House of Garner Senior High; Jennifer Piscorik of Leesville Road Elementary; Katherine Kison of Joyner Elementary; Maureen Stockdale of Wakefield High and Torri Jackson of Washington Elementary.

This is the second 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/2005_teacher_ofthe_year_finalists/