May 21, 1999

 

Sandra Robertson named 2000 County Teacher of Year

 

Sandra Robertson, a 7th and 8th grade English teacher and GATE coordinator at Santa Barbara Junior High School, was named 2000 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year. The announcement was made at a press conference May 28 by County Superintendent of Schools Bill Cirone.

Robertson, one of a number of outstanding countywide nominees for the honor, was selected by a four-person committee composed of teachers and representatives from PTAs and school boards.

Two Distinguished Educators will be announced at separate press conferences the following week: 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 1 at Main School in Carpinteria, and 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 2 at Tunnell School in Santa Maria.

Superintendent Cirone expressed hearty congratulations for Robertson's professionalism, enthusiasm, and successes in the classroom and as a model for others both locally and nationally.

Robertson has been teaching for 27 years and has held her currently position for 12 years. She received her B.A. in English, with a minor in history, from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she also received her secondary teaching credential.

She is English Department chair and GATE coordinator, and she chairs the PQR Leadership Team. Currently she is developing an elective course in debate, and she is faculty advisor to the California Junior Scholarship Federation.

Robertson has served as a fellow in the South Coast Writing Project and its Advanced Institute in Literature and Composition. She has been a mentor teacher in language arts and in character education. She was listed in Who's Who in American Education and has served as a fellow of the Advanced Institute in Composition and Literature. She was also a member of the Early Adolescence English/Language Arts standards Committee. She has served as a scorer and a trainer of scorers for the Education Testing Service, as a member of the advisory panel for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards committee which developed the exam for middle school English teachers. She has several published articles and has been a lecturer at the Graduate School of Education at UCSB.

Prior to coming to Santa Barbara High School District she worked in Ventura Unified and at the U.S. Naval Air Station at Point Mugu. She has made numerous professional presentations from Indiana and Pennsylvania to Virginia, Kentucky, and Colorado.

"Students know, from the moment they enter my classroom, that they will be continually engaged in talking, reading, and writing about exciting ideas, and that I consider their own writing, their ideas, and their questions as important a part of the curriculum as any material I present to them," she wrote.

Wrote principal Gerrie Fausett: "This honor will validate the reputation she holds among administrators, teachers, parents, and students who have had the great pleasure to work with a woman who embodies the ideal of a 'professional.'"

Wrote parent Brian Barnwell: "Ms. Robertson is highly organized, analytical, keenly focused and exceptionally dedicated…She makes learning fun...She provides solid support and encouragement while constantly prodding each student to achieve ever higher levels of integrated comprehension.."

Wrote student Kelly Gleason: "She had an amazing ability to connect to her students, and recognize the beauty and relevance of their lives outside the classroom. It was a feeling that…we could accomplish anything in her classroom. When it came time for me to…choose a post-graduate direction …I knew that in order to fulfill a certain sense of completion in my life, I had no other choice but to teach, and try to come close to making the kind of difference in another child's life as Sandy did in mine."

Wrote Dr. Sheridan Blau, director, National Council of Teachers of English: "It would be difficult if not impossible to find any other middle school language arts teacher in the nation who over the past decade has done as much to demonstrate in their own classroom what defines the best possible teaching that can be done in the middle grades, who has contributed as much to national thinking among professionals on the question of what defines excellence in teaching, or who has provided as much guidance for colleagues regionally and nationally for strengthening their own daily teaching practice in the classroom."

Robertson's nomination will next be reviewed for consideration as California Teacher of the Year in the fall. The California winner will then proceed into consideration for National Teacher of the Year.

As Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year, Robertson will be available to speak countywide, and can be reached at Santa Barbara Junior High or at the County Education Office, by calling Nancy Emerson at 964-4711, ext. 5281.