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	Last updated 12.12.05

The 2005 NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence Recipient

Philip Forgit
Virginia Education Association (VEA)

Philip Forgit is a fourth-grade teacher at Rawls Byrd Elementary School in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Mr. Forgit has wanted to be a teacher since the eighth grade and considers teaching to be a calling. Remembering his own teachers, Mr. Forgit says, “I realized these were the kinds of teachers I aspired to be—teachers students remember, teachers students learn from, and teachers who inspire.” Mr. Forgit’s goals for his students go well beyond traditional learning. He teaches self-esteem, tolerance, personal responsibility, and accountability. He sets high expectations and challenges his students to live up to their potential. He teaches by personal example.

To his students, Mr. Forgit is larger than life. He is known for creative teaching that incorporates fun and memorable characters, the “hook” to get his students interested in the lesson, as well as strict discipline, which he calls the “focus mechanism.” Mr. Forgit notes of his teaching performances, “You have to recognize that there is a wide diversity within your audience—a wide array of learning styles in the classroom, and you must try every way you can to reach each student.”

Mr. Forgit’s most popular character is Tectonic Tex, an Elvis-like singer who teaches earth science principles, such as plate tectonics, based on Virginia’s Standards of Learning. Tectonic Tex’s popularity took off and Mr. Forgit eventually wrote enough songs for a school concert. Over the years, he has performed his science-based repertoire in front of thousands of students, parents, teachers, and community members. But Mr. Forgit’s creativity did not stop there. After receiving a grant from the VEA, he produced a movie starring hundreds of school children and engaging community members and leaders. The mayor of Williamsburg declared a Tectonic Tex day when the movie premiered at a local theater. Of his teaching style, Mr. Forgit explains, “Active, multi-sensory engagement is the best learning environment.”

Wherever he sees a need in the community, Mr. Forgit seeks to fill it. From candidate for the House of Delegates running on a platform of improving public education, to U.S. Navy reservist, to church deacon, Mr. Forgit serves his community with unfailing energy and passion. He has created and fostered many innovative programs that weave together his association membership, community and military involvement, interest in professional development, and concern for disadvantaged and at-risk students. As a student teacher, Mr. Forgit started the Play Ed Project. Still active today, Play Ed has raised thousands of dollars from local businesses and civic leaders to purchase specialized equipment for early childhood intervention programs.

Mr. Forgit has led many association and professional development workshops, helping his colleagues rediscover their joy in teaching (JIT) through the “4JIT (Forgit) Institute.” His Tectonic Tex concerts incorporate teaching techniques to help his colleagues. As local association president, he created a district-wide program called Preschool Prep to provide grants and recertification points for teachers to create programs for disadvantaged preschoolers. His project Reading Corps pairs members of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard with fourth-grade students to read to younger students. He is a director and teacher in the Minority Achievement Office’s After-School Tutorial Program and a member of the NAACP Education Committee.

Active in the association at all levels, Mr. Forgit has been president of two local associations, New Kent Education Association (NKEA) and Williamsburg-James City Education Association (WJCEA); Vice President of WJCEA; and five-time delegate to the VEA Convention. His leadership and organizing abilities earned him New Kent’s A+ Organizing Award and WJCEA’s Commendation for Organizing. As president of NKEA, he doubled the association’s membership and fought to increase benefits for teachers and education support professionals, resulting in the largest salary increase in over ten years. During his tenure as president of WJCEA, membership rose 20 percent, and Mr. Forgit lobbied for professional development, benefits, and salary increases.

Mr. Forgit earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master of Arts in Elementary Education from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

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