Meet MBJH’s state Teacher of the Year finalist

Mountain Brook Junior High ninth-grade English teacher Gerilynne “Geri” Shadeed was recently named one of 16 finalists for Alabama Teacher of the Year. 

From those 16, four teachers were named to the Final Four, and the 2015-2016 Teacher of the Year was announced on May 13 in Montgomery.

Alabama’s Teacher of the Year spends the majority of the school year serving as a full-time ambassador for education and the teaching profession as well as presenting workshops to various groups. Additionally, Alabama’s representative is a candidate for the National Teacher of the Year. Cherokee Bend teacher Ann Marie Corgill was the 2014 Alabama Teacher of the Year and is now also a finalist for the National Teacher of the Year Award. 

Shadeed obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from East Tennessee State University and previously taught in Hoover and Shelby County schools. Her grandmother was an elementary teacher for 40 years, and her father was a college professor turned administrator. She and her husband, Eddie, have two children, Matt and Ally, as well as a golden retriever, a shih-tzu and a Morkie.

Village Living spoke with Shadeed to learn more about her passion as an educator and how English teachers can impact the next generation.

What attracted you to teach in Mountain Brook?

Mountain Brook is such a well respected school system that it was something to which I aspired. During my teaching time in Alabama, I have had the pleasure of working with several educators from this system, so I gravitated this way. Once I got here, I was truly impressed with the system and the way teachers are appreciated and respected as professionals. This is every teacher’s dream job.

What is your favorite aspect of teaching?

The best part of my job is working with the young people that I spend my day with. I truly love being around kids, and when I can combine that with my passion for books, it’s the ideal situation for me.

What makes your classroom or teaching style unique?

It’s hard to say what makes my classroom or teaching style unique because I am on the other side of the fence. I’ve been told many times before that I am spunky, perky and quirky, and I have admitted to my students that I am a total English nerd. I want them to see that it is okay to love to read and write and think and feel. I try to change up things and keep everyone engaged.  I have a connection with kids that I feel like is honest and genuine.

What platform(s) do you want to share with other educators in the state?

If I had a platform, it would be that all educators should be lifelong learners. With apologies to actor Matthew McConaughey, I would take liberties with his mantra “just keep livin” and change it to “just keep learnin.” We must not be content to sit back and do things the same way we have done things for the last two centuries. We live in a different world. We cannot afford to rest on our laurels and use the same strategies focused on the same skills for 30 years! We have been living in the twenty-first century for 15 years now, and I think it is safe to say that we have witnessed some prolific changes already. As our world changes, so must we change how we prepare students today for the challenges of tomorrow. My message to both my profession and society in general would be that we must continue to grow – to learn – in order to face whatever the future holds.

What do you like about teaching English in particular? 

The best thing about teaching English is that I know I am impacting the future. I am a snob about my subject area because I feel that what I teach is the subject that lays the foundation for what students do in every other subject. They need to read for comprehension and look for textual evidence, like they need to be able to spell and use correct grammar, so they don’t appear illiterate. I take my job seriously because I worry about future generations not being able to communicate effectively; we are already losing a sense of standard, formal English. I feel as if English teachers really can impact the world.