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June 3, 2021Pamela Brown, a teacher at All Saints Catholic School in Norman, has been nominated for the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award in the junior division of the National History Day Contest.
This dedicated educator has been teaching for 35 years, having taught in Noble for 11 years, before going to All Saints.
National History Day is a nonprofit organization based in College Park, Md., which seeks to improve the teaching and learning of history. Qualifications for this prestigious national award are for a teacher who demonstrates a commitment to engaging students in historical learning through innovative use of primary sources, implementation of active learning strategies to foster historical thinking skills and participation in the National History Day Contest, according to the organization’s website.
Brown has been involved with the National History Day organization for 20 years and was nominated by her colleagues within the group.
“Pam is a great junior high teacher! She knows how to make her class enjoyable and rigorous at the same time, and the students and parents love her for that,” said Dana Wade, principal of All Saints Catholic School.
“Pam has a warm and beautiful spirit. Her expectations for student progress are high, and her students continually strive to meet them.”
Brown said she was very surprised and excited to receive the prestigious national award.
“I could not believe it!” Brown said. “I read the e-mail three times!”
The National History Day 2021 theme was “Communication in History: The Key to Understanding” as students and teachers across the country had to utilize modern communication technologies to conduct remote, in-person and hybrid classes. The National History Day awards ceremony took place on June 19.
Brown explained she loves the fact she could express her faith with the students at All Saints School, and incorporate it in her daily school lessons. Her ideas on teaching and history also are a part of her faith and she can connect the two.
She added her goal is not to just teach them history, but teach them how to learn more about history, how to learn the skills, how to learn not question knowledge, but to look at more than one source of information.
Jolene Schonchin is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.
