Shana Goodall, a teacher at Orono High School, has been named the 2019 Maine History Teacher of the Year, an award presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to K-12 American history education.

Inaugurated in 2004, the History Teacher of the Year Award highlights the crucial importance of history education by honoring exceptional American history teachers from elementary school through high school. The award honors one K-12 teacher from each state, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense schools and US Territories. In fall 2019, the National History Teacher of the Year will be selected from the pool of state winners.

Goodall is a lifelong learner, as evidenced by her embrace of technology in the classroom and her continuous quest to find new, engaging ways to present material. She earned an undergraduate degree in Growth and Structure of Cities from Bryn Mawr College (Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) and graduate degrees in teaching and educational leadership from the University of Maine. In her classroom, she creates a flexible environment for all learners to explore history while stimulating, directing, and pacing whole class instruction while at the same time encouraging independent inquiry.  Goodall is noted for her sense of humor and laugh, and students view Shana as a mentor and valuable source of information and guidance.

In addition to a $1,000 honorarium, Orono High School will receive a core archive of American history books and Gilder Lehrman educational materials and recognition at a ceremony at the annual fall conference of the Maine Council for the Social Studies to take place on Monday, November 5. The National History Teacher of the Year Award will be presented by John Avlon, Senior Political Analyst and anchor at CNN, at a ceremony in New York City on October 2. Past presenters at the ceremony include the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, Good Morning America‘s Robin Roberts, First Lady Laura Bush, former US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Nominations for the 2020 History Teacher of the Year awards are now open. Students, parents, colleagues, and supervisors may nominate K-12 teachers for the award by visiting gilderlehrman.org/nhtoy. The deadline for 2019 nominations is March 31, 2020.