Above: 2023 Award Winners

Award Recipients

Thank you for your interest in the Teacher Recognition Program sponsored by the Lisa and John McNichol Early Childhood Education Lab at Drexel University.

Purpose

The purpose of the Teacher Recognition Program is to amplify best practices in social-emotional learning and character education within the early childhood teacher workforce (birth – age 8) by recognizing and sharing the expertise of notable teachers with the wider education community.

Nomination Process & Deadline

Supervisors (e.g. directors, assistant principals, principals) nominate one or more of their teachers for excellence in social, emotional, or character education methods by completing this nomination form once for each teacher. The nomination form is due by April 1st and the awards ceremony will be held in June.

Nomination Criteria

Every teacher recognized through this program must meet the following criteria, to be demonstrated on the nomination form.

1. The nominated teacher’s students are demonstrating observable, substantial growth in the SEL domain because of the teacher’s pedagogy, commitment, and expertise.
2. There is evidence to believe that children’s SEL gains are directly related to, and caused by, the teacher’s unique effort, methods and strategies.
3. The nominated teacher demonstrates exceptional ability to form bonds of trust, rapport and love with all children, but especially with children who have experienced trauma and children that have had challenging behavior.
4. The nominated teacher successfully encourages children to practice kindness, love, forgiveness and other character traits (e.g. perseverance, curiosity, honesty, etc.). An ethos of kindness from the children can be felt in the teacher’s classroom.
5. The nominated teacher has succeeded in fostering courteous language usage between the children in the classroom, such that teamwork, sharing and cooperation are the norm during most times of the day, on most days. He/she has specific methods to achieve this.
6. The nominated teacher models SEL and character skills in their own behavior and speech with children, colleagues, and parents, contributing to a culture of kindness and warmth which children readily learn through observation.
7. Bonus: the nominated teacher is confident in her abilities and shares her skills and knowledge with junior teachers, colleagues and parents (e.g. she has delivered a workshop to other teachers or parents about SEL strategies that work), demonstrating leadership for SEL.

Benefits of Recognition

1. Each selected nominee will be recognized on the Drexel University School of Education website with their name, photo and a biographical statement about them.
2. Each selected nominee will receive an Award of SEL Excellence certificate in social, emotional and character education from the ECE Lab. This award can be noted on their resume.
3. Each selected nominee will receive an ECE lab membership invitation form, allowing the teacher to become a member of the lab and to access all the benefits associated with membership (e.g. access to possible financial resources, collaboration, research projects, possible consulting work, materials & books, letters of recommendation, and more).
4. Several nominees each year who demonstrate the most outstanding impact on children’s SEL and character development will also receive a gift card as part of their award package from the ECE Lab.

Review & Notification Process

1. All nomination forms will be reviewed by existing ECE Lab members within 1 month of submission and scored using a rubric that follows the nomination criteria. Nominees will then be informed of their selection for the benefits of recognition.

Questions

Please direct questions or suggestions about this program to the lab’s Director, Dr. Michael Haslip, haslip@drexel.edu.