Harns Marsh Middle School teacher selected Teacher of the Year

Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published:
Allison Kerner, a Harns Marsh Middle School teacher, was named Teacher of the Year. (CREDIT: Lee County school district)

Harns Marsh Middle School teacher Allison Kerner has been selected as the 2021 Teacher of the Year.

Harns Marsh Middle School Principal Alex Dworzanski said Kerner is an “absolute rockstar” in the classroom, according to a news release from the Lee County school district.

The school district said Kerner took on the challenges of the lowest-performing English Language Arts 8th graders and has helped them improve their grades.

In addition to Language Arts, she also spends time coaching and mentoring other teachers.

Kerner began teaching at the school in 2016. In 2018, she was appointed the ELA Department Chair.

“The increases in proficiency under her leadership improved Harns Marsh Middle School’s grade from a C to a B,” the district said.

Kerner said she decided to become a teacher when she was a student at Mirror Lakes Elementary School where a teacher helped her and her family through the sudden loss of her sister.

Kerner became the first in her family to earn a college degree when she graduated from the University of South Florida.

“I have aspired to become the kind of teacher I leaned on as a student,” Kerner said in a statement. “I absolutely believe, given the chance, any student can blow us away, rise to the challenge, learn and succeed.

Kerner will be nominated for Florida Teacher of the Year. For being selected in Lee County, she will receive a prize package valued at more than $2,000.

 

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.