The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Teacher named history teacher of year
Sara Ziemnik, a history teacher, was recently awarded the 2017 National History Teacher of the Year Award.
Sara Ziemnik, a history teacher at Rocky River High School, was recently awarded the 2017 National History Teacher of the Year Award.
She was honored at the University Club of New York where Pulitzer Prizewinning historian Eric Foner presented her with the award and a prize of $10,000.
Ziemnik spoke about winning the award and her teaching process during a phone interview with the Morning Journal.
“I received the Ohio version of the award back in June,” she said. “That put me in for the national
award. I couldn’t believe it when I got the call, it’s very
exciting.” Ziemnik said she had applied in past years, but the application can be quite tough to complete.
“We’re asked to submit one page that explains our teaching philosophy,” she said. “This also includes a single lesson plan, which includes primary sources, and projects the students will be working on during the semester. I tried last year and didn’t hear back, so this has all been a surprising and great experience.”
Ziemnik said her main teaching philosophy is to force open dialogue.
“I really try to encourage the voices of the students,” she said. “I want to have student-centered communication in the classroom. Students learn best when they’re thinking critically.”
Ziemnik said it’s best to guide the students to discover the answer on their own.
“It doesn’t do them any good for me to tell them what the answer is or how they should feel about it; I’m not the gatekeeper,” she said. “I help them find the primary sources, but I want to keep them active and allow them to come to the conclusion on their own.”
Ziemnik said she has a lot of fun activities for students this semester.
“For the freshmen we do a major World War II section,” she said. “There have often been some cool family ties for that war including someone who knew a member of the French Resistance. For the sophomores, who study U.S. History, I love to bring in veterans so students can get a primary perspective on these events.”
Ziemnik said the biggest obstacle for teachers today is the pressure to standardize.
“We need to find a way to individualize because not all kids learn the same way,” she said. “We, at the same time, also need kids to past tests; there will always be that confliction. I not sure there is a solution, we just need to help every students as best we can.”
Ziemnik said history is firmly more important now than ever before.
“We live in a current world with problems that we didn’t create,” she said. “The goal for us, however is how we can look at the past to fix things today.”