SKOWHEGAN — Tammy Ranger, a reading intervention teacher at Skowhegan Area Middle School, is the 2017 Maine Teacher of the Year.
In a surprise ceremony Thursday in the gymnasium where she learned of the award, Ranger, 53, told students that they are the reason she comes to work every day.
“We teach because we love our students and because we love learning,” Ranger said. “In my 16 years working as an educator, I’ve met many outstanding teachers in Maine. I feel like I know teachers; we have common experiences. I know that you love your students and you want the best for your students, and I know the joy that you feel when you see the ‘light bulb moments’ come on when you understand that they got the lesson that you taught.”
Ranger is the second Maine teacher of the year to come out of Skowhegan Area Middle School. Jennifer Dorman, an English and language arts instructor in special education, was named in 2015. Ranger also is the third County Teacher of the Year from the school, joining Dorman and Debora Tanner, a mathematics teacher.
Ranger entered the gymnasium through a side door to a wild round of applause and a standing ovation as Ranger hugged fellow teachers and members of her family.
Ranger began her career in 1999 as a sixth-grade reading and social studies teacher at Margaret Chase Smith Elementary School in Skowhegan. She is a yoga instructor for the elderly and for employees at New Balance Athletic Shoe Co. and sits on the Waterville Public Library board of directors. She is a volunteer at the Evening Soup and Sandwich program in Waterville.
Ranger is also an adjunct professor at the University of Maine, where she teaches a methods course in English language arts. She holds a bachelor of science degree in elementary education with a concentration in literacy from the University of Maine at Farmington and a master’s degree in kindergarten-through-grade 12 literacy from the University of Maine.
Skowhegan Area Middle School Principal Zachary Longyear said Thursday’s event was “tremendously exciting.”
“Her experience with you, our students, will shape the face of education in Maine and beyond,” Longyear said. “Mrs. Ranger validates what the state of Maine and the title Teacher of the Year stands for. She is the perfect example of an ambassador for this program – a mother, a mentor, a friend and an example that shines through your students, showing them that they, too, can be exceptional.”
Talya Edlund, the 2016 Teacher of the Year, who teaches at Pond Cove Elementary School in Cape Elizabeth, told Ranger that “you are the teacher I want to learn from.”
“Today is like the biggest party ever,” Edlund said. “We are celebrating a truly exceptional, wholehearted and fabulous individual, who, like you all probably do, I feel so lucky to know.”
A plaque noting the Maine Teacher of the Year Award was presented to Ranger by Martha Harris and Peter Geiger, of the state Board of Education.
Ranger was among three state finalists for Maine’s top teaching award.
“Guys, your teacher just won a great honor, but she’s got a lot of work ahead of her, too,” said Ed Cervone, executive director of the nonprofit group Educate Maine, which administers the Teacher of the Year program. “But one of the cool things among many is that she gets to go to Washington, D.C., to represent all of you for the nation; and she gets to meet the president of the United States.”
Doug Harlow can be contacted at 612-2367 or at:
dharlow@centralmaine.com; Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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