Hallie Wells Educator Receives MCPS Teacher of the Year Award

An English teacher from Hallie Wells Middle School in Clarksburg, has been named the 2019-2020 Montgomery County Public Schools Teacher of the Year.

Madeline Hanington, who has taught at the school since 2016, was awarded teacher of the year during the annual Champions for Children Awards Celebration on Thursday night at BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown.

As MCPS Teacher of the Year, Hanington will receive a one-year lease of a new car by Fitzgerald Automall and $2,000 in cash from the Marian Greenblatt Fund.

Marian Greenblatt was elected to the Montgomery County Board of Education from 1976 until 1984, and served as its president during in 1978. After Greenblatt’s death in 1988, the fund was created to commemorate her efforts as an educator.

Hanington was one of three finalists for Teacher of the Year, along with Maura Backenstoe, kindergarten teacher at Burning Tree Elementary School, and Teak Bassett, a social studies teacher at Clarksburg High School.

She will now move on to the state level where she will compete for the Maryland Teacher of the Year award.

For more information on this year’s finalists, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Madeline Hanington, Award-Winning Educator Who Makes a Difference in Students’ Lives

Hanington, who has an undergraduate degree in art, is an English content specialist and teacher at Hallie Wells Middle School in Clarksburg. MCPS describes Hanington — a 2011 recipient of the Milken Educator Award — as having a teaching style that’s “dynamic, innovative, and nurturing.”

According to MCPS, Hanington’s instruction is effective, and they have data to back up their claim. Hanigan helped created academic intervention programs, which increased student scores on the Maryland State Assessment by about five percent.

In addition to her instruction accomplishments, Hanington also actively mentors her fellow English teachers and other MCPS staff members.

She’s also actively involved in her student body, where she’s a “co-sponsor” for the Junior National Honor Society and the Lady Scholars program (which is an afterschool program aimed at helping young women reach “their highest potential.”

Barbara Woodward, principal of Hallie Wells Middle School, spoke highly of the impact Hanington has on students.

Woodward said, “Hanington’s lived experience: immigrant parents, poverty, academic success, coupled with her natural traits of caring and dedication, make Ms. Maddy Hanington an exceptional teacher who makes THAT difference in children’s lives.”

 

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