Karyn Collie Dickerson is a National Board Certified English Teacher at Grimsley High School and the 2013-2014 North Carolina Teacher of the Year. She has taught English in grades 9-12, including recovery, inclusion, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate classes.
Outside of her classroom, she has served on Grimsley’s Leadership Team, mentored English teacher interns from local universities, and coached the Grimsley Women’s Varsity Tennis Team to win the NCHSAA 4-A State Championship in 2011. She is also an English Methods Instructor at Guilford College.
Karyn graduated from UNC-CH with a B.A. with Honors and Highest Distinction in English and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She also graduated with a M. Phil with Distinction in Romanticism and Forms of Modernity from the University of Glasgow, Scotland where she was a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar.
As NC Teacher of the Year, Karyn is currently traveling the state and advocating for public education.
Transcript of the Interview (PDF)
Jump to question:
- Imagine someone visited your class several times, what would they say the principal teaching strategies you use are? Could you talk about teaching strategies you use that are universal, and as well as strategies that are somewhat unique to you and your personality?
- How do you organize your class to maximize learning opportunities for your students? How do you help them become better learners?
- How do you differentiate instruction to meet the needs of students with special needs (EC, ESL, AIG, etc.)?
- How do you know when learning is occurring and what do you do when you question whether learning is taking place in the classroom?
- How do you “hook” a reluctant learner to your content?
- If you were to give advice to a new teacher in North Carolina, what 2-3 learnings would you share?