Teacher of the year: Rachel Sharpe, NCSS Middle Level Social Studies.

Rachel Sharpe of Kanapaha Middle School in Gainesville, Florida, has been honored by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) as the Outstanding Social Studies Teacher at the Middle School Level. The award, which is co-sponsored by Scholastic Inc., was presented by NCSS at its annual meeting last November in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mrs. Sharpe teaches sixth-grade World Cultures and eighth-grade U.S. History and has achieved National Board Certification.

"Rachel is a wonderful teacher," says her principal, Jennifer L. Wise. "There is never a dull moment in her classrooms. She and her students roll up their sleeves and get busy learning history."

One of her key goals, says Mrs. Sharpe, is to "mold her students into agents of change that positively contribute to their society." To help achieve this goal, she works with professors from the University of Florida, who visit her classroom to co-teach U.S. History.

While learning about the Vietnam War, students use primary sources such as letters, newspaper articles, photographs, poems, and music to understand different perspectives about that controversial time. Mrs. Sharpe also created a Web quest to facilitate student learning.

As one student, Kaitlin McCandless, wrote to Mrs. Sharpe: "At the beginning of the year, you told us that we would be stretching our minds beyond just memorizing the facts for a test. Instead, we would be stretching our imaginations through a variety of different activities that would ultimately help us acquire, organize, process, and use information to understand history and make decisions. Well, I just wanted you to know that you succeeded in your goal. You have stretched my mind to think like I have never thought before."

JS congratulates Mrs. Sharpe on her achievement. To be eligible for the award, teachers must be members of the National Council for the Social Studies. For information about the award, visit www.socialstudies.org/awards.