Memorandum from Mary Kay Murphy
Mary Kay Murphy, Ph.D. District 3  School Board Member marykaymurphy@aol.com

March 10, 2006

Three Great Teachers Who Took Time

   Dorothy Lewis, Mary Anne Meeks, and Ken Almon have achieved honor and distinction in District III—and beyond—and it is important to take time to reflect on their accomplishments and contributions to The Weekly Online community.

   Dorothy Lewis, a 27-year calculus and trigonometry teacher and four-time STAR Teacher of the Year at Norcross High School, was honored on February 24, 2006, for the fifth time as STAR Teacher at the annual STAR Student lunch in Gwinnett County.

   Mary Anne Meeks, Duluth High School teacher and coach of the school’s Mock Trial team, garnered the STAR Teacher of the Year honor from among the very talented faculty members at Duluth High School and also honored at the February 24, 2006 STAR Student and Teacher luncheon in Gwinnett County.

   Ken Almon, Fifth Grade Teacher at Norcross Elementary School and recipient of the prestigious $25,000 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, published his first book and held an autograph party on March 2, 2006—Dr. Seuss’s Birthday, a date celebrated nationwide by lovers of readers and of reading.

   These three teachers, representing the best of the very best that Gwinnett County Public Schools offer among the system’s teaching cadre, have brought honor, respect, recognition, and devotion to their schools, their students, and their community. 

   Those whose lives have been touched by these three outstanding teachers stand in grateful appreciation and deep awe of their gifts, their talents, and their generous spirit of sharing.

   Dorothy Lewis showed great courage in her two-year battle with cancer. On the Monday before the STAR Student and Teacher of the Year Lunch at the 1818 Club, Dorothy Lewis died. With Ms. Lewis’s death, Norcross High School lost one of its consummate faculty members. 

   On February 26, 2006, the Norcross High School Gymnasium was the scene of a memorial service for Dorothy Lewis, a service that lasted exactly fifty-five minutes. Ms. Lewis was an ardent believer in the magic of a fifty-five minute meeting, the amount of time of the class periods over which she presided during her twenty-seven year teaching career.

   The memorial service began with the Norcross High School Orchestra and ended with the Norcross High School Band. In between, testimonials of remarkable sweep and scope recounted the meaning of Dorothy Lewis’s life to students, faculty members, athletic directors and principals, and family members, among others.

   Norcross High School honored Dorothy Lewis by placing her name as the Inaugural Member of the school’s newly established Hall of Fame. Norcross STAR Student David Mlaver presented Ms. Lewis’s family members with her fifth STAR Teacher award. Fifty-five minutes to the second after the memorial service began, it ended.

   On Saturday, February 25, 2006, at 8:00 a.m. in the courtroom of Judge Robert Mock in the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, Mrs. Mary Anne Meeks, exemplary teacher and coach of the Duluth Mock Trail team, and ninth through twelfth grade members of the team began their final preparations for arguments in a carefully studied and rehearsed case. Theirs was the same case that all other competing Mock Trial teams would try on this significant Saturday in the Lawrenceville Seat of Justice, located in the center of populous Gwinnett County.

   Mrs. Meeks also is a consummate faculty member, deftly shining the spotlight on the achievements of her students and her faculty colleagues at Duluth High School and never allowing accolades to be directed toward her. 

   She is a stalwart student of pedagogy, continuing her studies to perfect the craft of teaching, earning state and national recognition for her prodigious commitment to the role of the teacher. Chaucer spoke about Mary Anne Meeks when he reflected on the Scholar in The Canterbury Tales. It was the Scholar who said, “and gladly would I learn…and gladly teach.”

   Ken Almon, a vibrant mainstay of the Norcross Elementary School faculty and community, held court in the school’s Media Center on March 2, 2006. The program began at 7:15 a.m. with Mr. Almon’s personal testimony about his philosophy of education, an insight into his standards for being a teacher, and a reflection on his journey through more than two decades of teaching, answering to the name of “Mr. A.” 

   Ken Almon’s book, Finding Favor with Your Students, outlines strategies that teachers can use to build strong, lasting relationships with those they teach. In the book, Mr. A. shares wisdom gained in the classrooms of Norcross Elementary School, among other schools, about creating a classroom atmosphere that motivates students and transforms them into enthusiastic learners.

   Two of Mr. A’s students—one current and one former—were in attendance at the book signing. Mr. A. pointed out that “we, as educators, can become so concerned with standardized testing and new programs that we often neglect the personal side of teaching, the side that deals with building lasting relationships and creating a classroom atmosphere that is non-threatening and conducive to learning and acceptance.

   “Most books in the field of education deal with theory, methodology, and academic teaching strategies, not relationships. My belief is that teachers who find favor with their students are better able to motivate their students to learn.”

   Dorothy Lewis, Mary Anne Meeks, Ken Almon. Three distinguished leaders and educators, three remarkable motivators, three outstanding teachers who took time to find favor with us, to build relationships that span the decades and the generations. 

   Their lives were—and are—all about relationships with their students. Their values remind us of their role and meaning in our lives and how very blessed those of us in Norcross, Duluth, Berkeley Lake, and Peachtree Corners have been to have these beloved teachers in our midst. 

031406

Archive