Teacher of the year.

Last year, the National Council for the Social Studies named Dee Krause its 2006 Outstanding Middle Level Teacher of the Year. A 13-gear veteran, Krause teaches seventh-grade at Hillsdale Middle School in Northville, Michigan. Recently, we asked her to share some thoughts about her profession.

The greatest rewards of teaching are when students become actively engaged in the learning process as scholars; they wish to learn for learning's sake. Also, when they develop a compassionate conscience and become concerned about social justice. I love it when they tell me that we should be doing something about human rights, etc.

Some of the greatest challenges that I face in the classroom are: shrinking budgets; students who are driven by the grade; insufficient materials to connect to the world; and, most important, not enough time to plan and develop myself professionally.

I [use] ... methods designed to promote civic competence and citizen education ... [to] help my students develop their ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the common good.... For instance, I challenge students to develop their social understanding.... [They must] prove a thesis by interpreting evidence from primary source materials ... and then integrate this material into a persuasive essay.

Students connect learning with real-world situations, such as the logistics required to produce their Hillside Rocks for Human Rights concert.... We also investigate other real-world situations through [simulating] nongovernmental organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations, and with debates that examine all sides of important issues like the construction of China's Three Gorges Dam.