Do you know an inspiring, dedicated online teacher? If so, you may want to nominate him or her for the National Online Teacher of the Year Award, which is being awarded by the Atlanta-based Southern Regional Education Board and the Vienna, Va.-based International Association of K-12 Online Learning, or iNACOL. Any superintendent, principal, program director or manager, department chair, or supervisor of online teachers can nominate an online teacher. The teacher must be from a public virtual school.
The award aims to recognize outstanding online teachers and is modeled closely after the National Teacher of the Year Award, says Jamie Sachs, the associate director of the SREB’s Education Technology Cooperative. “A lot of these teachers have gotten into online education looking for the next best way to reach students,” she told me in a recent phone interview. “They’re the kind of teachers who are always looking for how to reach that one student.”
And it’s not just about tech skills, either, says Sachs. The award is for “those who have a genuine concern for students and help them succeed in any way that they can.”
The winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Virtual School Symposium in Glendale, Ariz., in November, as well as a trophy. Nominations need to be in by April 16. Click here for a nomination form, as well as more information about the contest.