Recipient: Jill Bever

School: Manchester Public School

Subject: Early Literacy Teacher and Special Education teacher for kindergarten students. 

Inspiration/Motivation for being a Teacher of Excellence:

Jill is inspired by the saying “never say never”.  She believes that all children can learn and therefore teachers give all children possibilities.  Jill believes that it is the teacher’s responsibility to find out how each child learns and to teach in a manner that allows each child to learn.  It inspires her just knowing that there are always more children to help and that teaching allows her the opportunity to help many children.  Jill herself loves to learn and is motivated to keep learning as she helps children to learn.

 Jill’s nominator, a teaching partner, describes Jill as an expert in teaching children to read.  She goes on to say,

 “Protecting the integrity of the program and of each child is something in which Jill magically excels.  She is able to challenge students to risk taking the next step, while maintaining their integrity and self-esteem.  Her techniques of hands-on learning, coupled with encouragement and positive re-enforcement, keep children actively engaged, enthused and committed.  Children know her as the teacher who puts on a funky pair of sunglasses to help her read, or a crazy hat to assist her thinking, or an animated voice to bring the book character into the room to entertain the audience and bring relevance and fun to learning. …Jill sees past deficits and identifies the strengths and beauty in every child.”