Global Teacher Prize 50 Finalists

It was just announced! I am a finalist for the Global Teacher Award.
http://www.globalteacherprize.org/finalist/michael-baldwin

Michael Baldwin - The Global Teacher Prize

Michael has taught in both the US and China.

GLOBALTEACHERPRIZE.ORG

It was just announced yesterday that I am one of 50 finalist for the Global Teacher Prize, winner to be announced at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai on March 16th, 2015. According to the Varkey GEMS Foundation, the Global Teacher Prize is an annual one million dollar award given to a super-special teacher. I am honored to be chosen from so many great teachers. Since being nominated I have thought long and hard about what motivates me and what is important.

Global Teacher Prize Top 50 Finalists

For me what is most rewarding are the achievements that have been realized by my students and by those that I have influenced.  It is nice to get a job done, but it is fantastic to have inspired and molded hundreds of students who are themselves changing the world. For example, in 1987 one of my students in 7^th grade life science was a young lady named Elsa Barrientos. She went on to study biology, then became a science teacher, and is now a science specialist working with teachers and students in Texas. She and I, and the many educators that we have influenced are quietly helping others to understand our world and hopefully make it a better place for everyone.

I published my first science education article in 1994 about the concept of ecological niches.  Many years later quite by accident, I discovered that the article was referenced and used in the Save the Bay’s San Francisco Bay Watershed Curriculum. Since then I have published several journal articles and presented at many conferences, as well as taught education courses for practicing and pre-service teachers. Knowing that many of my former students are now teachers, and that these ideas are referenced, used, and lived by others, drives my enthusiasm for teaching.

As an educator, I realize it is not so much what I do, but how the people I work with are changed through my actions. So much of what I do as an educator is to create situations where students are challenged to examine what they know so that they can make these experiences part of who they are.  This role of teacher carries a huge responsibility to make sure every experience moves my students in a positive and constructive direction.