Elementary Education Major Shelly Moody, Maine Teacher of the Year
Shelly Moody, who majored in elementary education at UMF and is now a looping grades 3-4 teacher at Williams Elementary School in Oakland, Maine, has been named Maine's 2011 Teacher of the Year.
"Shelly Moody is a quiet leader who, without knowing it, makes those around her better," said Maine Commissioner of Education Angela Faherty at a surprise assembly of students, staff, and faculty at Williams Elementary School, where she presented Moody with the award in early September 2010. "Her enthusiasm, her commitment to children, and her professionalism are contagious."
Kathy Harris-Smedberg, who also graduated from UMF and is now principal of Williams Elementary School, nominated Moody for Maine's highest teaching honor. At the award ceremony, she said Moody "is truly the epitome of what every teacher should be" and praised her for representing "what is wonderful and right about public school education."
After receiving the honor, Moody shared the credit with her students. "I think this is really about all of us; it's not about me," said Moody, as reported by the Morning Sentinel. "I couldn't do this without the school."
When she received the honor, Moody was the third consecutive UMF graduate to be named Maine Teacher of the Year and the fourth since 2006, following Kevin Grover, a second-grade teacher at D.W. Lunt School in Falmouth (Maine's 2010 Teacher of the Year); Gloria Noyes, a fifth-grade teacher at Congin Elementary School in Westbrook (Maine's 2009 Teacher of the Year); and Donna Tardif, a second-grade teacher at Woodside Elementary School in Topsham (Maine's 2006 Teacher of the Year).
