Congratulations to English teacher Sarah Thompson who was recognized at the annual FCPS Honors event as the 2017 Outstanding Secondary Teacher!

Sarah is lauded as a leader and risk taker who is involved in almost every aspect of Twain. In five years as an English teacher, she pioneered both the flipped and paperless classroom, filming lectures in advance (some of which are spotlighted on the FCPS YouTube page) and using Google to manage class assignments. She also took over the school’s website and is heading up a pilot program to give all students access to individual netbooks. “She has personally brought the use of technology in the classroom to a new level,” says a fellow teacher. Her students benefit from her novel “stress-free writing lessons and ability to relate the texts they’re reading to their own lives. “Her passion transfers to them,” notes a colleague. “It’s rare to see teenagers so excited to read and write.”

• See Ms. Thompson's page on the FCPS website.

Congratulations also to the other Twain Middle School employees recognized at the event.

Outstanding Secondary New Teacher School and Pyramid-level Recipient

• Kirstin Utterback, (Social Studies Teacher) 

Outstanding School-based Support Employee School and Pyramid-level Recipient

• Lorena Orellana, (Building Supervisor)

Outstanding School-based Leader School-level Recipient

• Neal Kalso, (Assistant Principal)

Outstanding New Principal School-level Recipient

•  Chuck Miller

Thank you to Karen Arthur for all of her hard work with the nomination process by serving as this year's awards liaison.