Madeline Hanington
7th Grade English Teacher
Gaithersburg Middle School
Montgomery County Public Schools
Gaithersburg, MD

Raised in a New York City housing project by Puerto Rican parents, Madeline Hanington not only was the first of her generation to attend college, but she also worked her entire way through school.

Hanington's students shine under her able tutelage. All 82 ranked proficient on the state test. She taught an academic intervention class for reading and math, with most of the class moving from basic to proficient in those subjects. Fortified by strong practices, leadership skills and achievement results, Hanington turned a school troublemaker into a model learner who later nabbed the Science Student of the Year award.

Using rubrics and exemplar papers to guide performance, Hanington incorporates "Lights, Camera, Literacy!"--a curriculum of Montgomery County Public Schools--to help students write scripts and produce videos that are presented to the community. Co-sponsor of the Junior National Honor Society, she also sponsors the Lunch Bunch book club and the Estrellas club for girls. A fixture in extracurricular activities, she even brought in Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor to speak to students. And in the spirit of the great bard himself, she had students dress in period costume and perform Shakespearian insults.

Hanington mentors other teachers and shares her lessons across the district. An Achievement Steering Committee member, she assists with planning schoolwide assessments, is team leader of her department, and coordinates resources with other departments. She serves as end-of-year speaker and maintains her own portfolio to meet evaluation standards. Hanington also organized a math and science parent academy and covers classes so her fellow teachers can perform peer visits.

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This just in: Gaithersburg Middle School English Teacher Madeline Hanington is Maryland's 2011 @Milken Educator! #mea25