A teacher from Levittown has reached the quarter finals in a national contest.
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Molly Fitzpatrick, who teaches kindergarten and first grade students with autism is in the running for the America’s Favorite Teacher contest. Fitzpatrick is among the top 1 percent of teachers remaining in the contest.
Fitzpatrick teaches in the Hatboro-Horsham School District and was in fifth place as of Sunday morning.
The winner of the America’s Favorite Teacher contest will be featured in Reader’s Digest, win a trip to Hawaii, and get $25,000.
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Voting for the semi-finals ends the night of Thursday, May 16.
Visit the America’s Favorite Teacher website to vote.
Fitzpatrick said she is “dedicated to making [students’] first school years a positive and meaningful experience for them.”
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Below are how Fitzpatrick answers to the questions for the contest:
What is your favorite part of being an educator?
My favorite part of being an educator is making personal connections with students. I LOVE to see them happy at school. Creating a positive and safe learning environment is the most important groundwork for being a teacher. Students have to be in the right mindset to learn, and in order to help them get in that mindset, you have to know them on a personal level and create trust before you are able to accomplish anything else. Creating connections with them and their families helps foster this.
Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience.
Looking back, I have so many positive experiences I could share, but I believe the most impactful has been applying for, and receiving, a grant to create a sensory room at our school. This has helped tremendously in fostering student awareness of body clues as to when they might need a sensory break, and utilizing proper tools and strategies in order to regulate and get them back to a place where they are ready to learn.
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What would you do with the $25,000?
With the $25,000, I would go back to school to become a BCBA. I believe that having this additional educational experience would give me the opportunity to better understand my students and how I can help them to become ready learners. This would also help me in training my support staff in order to help them feel supported and ready each day.
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