Blaire Conner (RC Math ’08) has earned the first Fauquier County Public School’s Superintendent’s Innovator of the Year award. County School Superintendent David Jeck cited Blaire as “a teacher who demonstrates innovation, a true growth mindset, and a 21st century approach to instruction.” Blaire teaches at Liberty High School and is known for fun activities in her courses. In Blaire’s words, “Our students build catapults using popsicle sticks, clothespins, spoons, rubber bands, and tape. We then use those catapults to fling bright orange ping-pong balls. With a coordinate plane projected onto the wall, we use the slow motion video on our phones to record the ball in motion. Students then watch the video playback to record points the ball passed through on the coordinate plane. We then use these points to determine the equation of the quadratic curve of best fit that the ball traveled.” Blaire was one of our favorites at Roanoke College due to her sense of humor and passion for excellence. She completed her mathematics major while raising her son Braden and coaching cheerleading at Salem High School. Focusing all that energy into the classroom produces an award-winning teacher, who will continue to improve. She says, “The world, and therefore our students, are constantly changing. We owe it to them to change with them and to do whatever we can to help them to reach their goals and to be successful.” Congratulations, Blaire, and thanks for representing Roanoke College!
Susan Sine (RC Math ’88) has earned the 2017 Roanoke County Educator of the Year award from the Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce. Theresa Hartley, the school division’s mathematics coordinator, praised Sine’s dedication to her students, along with her love of math and fun lessons. “Susan is an outstanding math teacher,” Superintendent Greg Killough said in a news release. “She has helped countless numbers of students both in her classroom and beyond learn and excel in math.” Susan (then Mayorshi before marrying fellow math major Ken Sine) was in some of the first classes I taught at Roanoke College. She is another of my favorite students as an upbeat presence who made everybody around her better. She has clearly retained those wonderful traits.
The faculty in MCSP are here because we love teaching, and it is a special pleasure to see our graduates share the passion for learning that makes great teachers. We especially pride ourselves and innovation and constant growth, and we are proud to see those qualities so perfectly exemplified by Blaire and Susan.
Sources:
http://www.fauquiernow.com/index.php/fauquier_news/entry/fauquier-lhs-teacher-wins-innovative-teacher-of-the-year-2018
http://www.roanoke.com/news/education/cave-spring-math-teacher-named-roanoke-county-educator-of-year/article_a95f03b0-d17e-54f4-8352-f60a01d2fc14.html
