Urbana, IL – – Tonya Perry from Birmingham, Alabama has been named the winner of the 2013 Richard W. Halle Award for an Outstanding Middle Level Educator, given by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Established in 1996, this award honors a junior high school/middle level educator who has worked to promote understanding of the developmental needs and characteristics of young adolescents, especially in the English language arts. The award recognizes the contributions of middle level educator Richard Halle of Marshfield, Wisconsin.
Middle level education has been Perry’s focus throughout her career as a classroom teacher and university professor. As assistant professor at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, she teaches and researches the topics of adolescent reading and writing and curriculum design in an effort to find the best ways to help teachers and students develop their talents and maximize their potential. She works with various schools and districts to develop her inquiry into methods of critical and creative approaches of instruction. In one district, she facilitates monthly professional development on curriculum writing with middle and high school teachers.
Perry has been an active member and office holder in many professional organizations throughout her career and continues to present at national, state, and local conferences and workshops. She has also been recognized with many awards, including being named the Alabama Teacher of the Year and being a finalist for National Teacher of the Year.
A “middle level educator” is defined as anyone who has worked to improve schools and schooling for the junior high school/middle level — teacher, principal, college person, curriculum specialist, or supervisor. Nominees encourage a spirit of inquiry and development of critical and creative thinking within the profession; show evidence of exemplary professional involvement, participation in activities such as workshops, curriculum development, and association programs and projects; connect classroom with community; foster the development of literacy education at the middle level; and promote research on the middle level student.
Perry will be announced as the recipient of the Richard W. Halle Award for an Outstanding Middle Level Educator at the Middle Level Get-Together on Thursday, November 21 during the 2013 NCTE Annual Convention in Boston, Massachusetts.
For more information about the NCTE Richard W. Halle Award for an Outstanding Middle Level Educator, including previous winners, see http://www.ncte.org/awards/halle.
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The National Council of Teachers of English, with 35,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. For more information, please visit http://www.ncte.org.
