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	Last updated 10/16/02

The NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence

2001 Recipient of The NEA Foundation
Award for Teaching Excellence

Valdine McLean
Nevada State Education Association

Valdine McLean is a science teacher at Pershing County High School in Lovelock, Nevada. Her current teaching assignments include physics, chemistry, biology, and student leadership for students in the ninth through twelfth grades. She is the 2001 Nevada Teacher of the Year and holds National Board Certification in the area of adolescent and young adult science.

Ms. McLean has built a vibrant science program at Pershing County High School. Since she began teaching there, student enrollment in senior physics classes has jumped from 10% annually to almost 50%, and ACT scores in science have steadily increased. Knowing that science is not always easily accessible to students, she develops cooperative projects with colleagues in art, shop, English, and computer science. The "pumpkin catapult" activity that she leads every fall involves more than half of the student body, as well as parents, businesspeople, and others from throughout the community and the region.

Ms. McLean bases her teaching on multiple intelligences theory. She designs hands-on projects to nurture skills in cooperation, teamwork, tolerance, and friendly competition. The first teacher in her school to use computers in her classroom, she has created a technology-rich environment that has proved particularly effective for English language learners and special needs students. "Students need a lot of help to make the transition into the world," she says. "For me, teaching excellence is joining with students to learn, to create a vision, and to hope together."

With only twelve years of teaching experience, Ms. McLean has become a leader in her classroom, in her community, and in the Pershing County Classroom Teachers Association. She has served on several negotiating teams, this year acting as the team spokesperson. "I advocate for the union by example," she explains. "Building partnerships and helping one another makes an impact. I am involved with the local association because I want to help shape and change what's going on." In her very first negotiation she was able to help reach agreement in only twenty minutes, which led to a new and continuing level of collaborative bargaining with the district administration. Ms. McLean has also testified for the school board on numerous occasions. She serves on the school site council and planning team, the district technology committee, and the state science education standards task force.

Elaine Lancaster, the immediate past president of the Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) who made the nomination for the Award for Teaching Excellence, called Ms. McLean "a committed and enthusiastic professional educator," whose work both in school and in the community has earned the respect of parents and town citizens. "From my standpoint as the affiliate president," Lancaster added, "she is an outstanding candidate—one the NSEA is proud and pleased to place in nomination for this award."

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