2001 National Teacher of the Year Michele Forman of Middlebury Union High
School is a Vermont-NEA member. She keeps a vibrant, welcoming classroom where
students thrive.
Congratulations to Vermont's Own Michele Forman, National Teacher of the Year 2001
MONTPELIER -- Vermont-NEA member Michele Forman, a respected social studies teacher at Middlebury Union High School since 1986, has been named the 2001 National Teacher of the Year.
President George W. Bush presides over the ceremony in April honorng the State Teachers of the Year, and formally naming the National Teacher of the Year. Forman, the 51st National Teacher of the Year, begins a year as a full-time national and international spokesperson for education on June 1, 2001. She is the first Vermont educator to receive this honor.
During her year of recognition, Forman will travel nationwide as a representative of the entire teaching profession, sharing her experiences and insights with colleagues, parents, students, and others. "The rewards I find in teaching are rooted in the joy of not only watching but also being part of my students' learning and development," said Forman. "A good teacher needs not only a good understanding of what he or she teaches, but also a sense of excitement in learning and a clear vision of how the key elements of a subject can be conveyed to students."
Forman is well known among Vermont-NEA members as a leader of the Vermont Alliance for the Social Studies and as Vermont-NEA political action chair for Addison county. Last year, she achieved National Board Certification in Adolescence and Young adulthood for Social Studies and History, the first such certification in Vermont.
Education Commissioner David S. Wolk praised the selection. "Vermont is exceptionally proud of Michele Forman, who represents the best of a very competent and caring corps of teachers across our state. She will be an impressive ambassador as she travels throughout the country over the next year," he said, "and the rest of the nation will soon appreciate this teacher who has contributed so much to education in Vermont."
“We are very proud of the high professional profile which Michele brings to MUHS,” said Alice Berninghausen, a parent and member of the district school board.
Timothy Aaron Wickland, a former student of Forman’s, said, “Through time spent working with her in the Arabic Club, in SCOHR [Student Coalition on Human Rights], and, above all in class, I have developed enormous respect for and admiration of Mrs. Forman and all of her work."
Richard “Doc” Seubert, a 30-year veteran teacher at the high school, said that Forman has been a “wonderful colleague.” He team taught with her last year. “A consummate professional, sensitive and caring human being, demanding and organized teacher, life-long learner, Michele has renewed my faith in the profession and spurred my commitment to my own students, just as she continues to motivate and inspire her own students.”
Forman believes that the “current rapid accumulation of knowledge and quantum leaps in understanding make it necessary for strong teachers to engage continually in learning as well as teaching.” Forman has immersed herself in professional development for the past 15 summers. She traveled and studied in West Africa and Korea. She studied Arabic history, literature and culture, and, her interest peaked, she “became convinced that knowledge of the language would help me gain a better understanding of the history.” She learned Arabic in a strict immersion program at Middlebury College, and has returned to the Arabic School at the college for a second and a third year.
Besides the knowledge and resources these unique studies bring to Michele Forman’s classroom, students at Middlebury UHS can take a course in Arabic language and culture that Foreman offers before school, three mornings a week. About 20 students take the course each year. “Both the students and I do this because we love learning,” said Forman.
The National Teacher of the Year Program is sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and Scholastic, Inc. "Michele has the exceptional combination of a sharp and creative intellect, a commitment to help students address the major political and human rights issues of our times, and the personal warmth that nourishes growth and confidence in her students," said CCSSO Executive Director Gordon Ambach. "Every student should have the opportunity to learn from a teacher like Michele."
Forman was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, on April 7, 1946. Leaving Sylvan Hills High School in Atlanta, she went to Brandeis University and in 1967 earned a BA in history. She holds a master's degree in teaching from the University of Vermont..
Forman’s professional contributions include: her leadership role in revitalizing the Vermont Alliance for the Social Studies; training 14 student teachers and mentoring a number of social studies teachers new to her department, as well as 20 classroom interns; helping to design her district’s K-12 social studies curriculum; participating in revising the Vermont Social Studies Framework; helping write National World History Standards; serving on the State Task Force on High School Reform; and heading the College Board History and Social Studies Academic Advisory Committee.
Forman lives in Salisbury, Vermont, and is married to Dick Forman, a semi-retired professional musician. They have three children: Elissa, a psychotherapist in Florence, Massachusetts; Laura, a student at UVM; and Tim, a student at Hampshire College.