MD Teacher Of The Year 2019 Is Anne Arundel Elementary Educator

CROWNSVILLE, MD — South Shore Elementary School third-grade teacher Teresa Beilstein was named the 2019-2020 Maryland Teacher of the Year Friday night by the Maryland State Department of Education. State Superintendent Karen Salmon made the announcement at MSDE’s annual awards banquet at Martin’s West in Baltimore, according to a news release from Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

“This profession is truly an honor,” Beilstein said after the announcement was made. “It is the intersection of my passion and purpose. I am so lucky to have a career that fulfills me as a person. It’s more than I could ever ask for and I’m honored to represent my colleagues across the state.”

A national board certified teacher, Beilstein not only did her student teaching at South Shore in Crownsville, but also has spent her entire seven-year career there.

She is known as a teacher who quickly builds relationships with colleagues, students, and parents, the school district said. She views it, in fact, as the most important ingredient to her healthy classroom.

“Thanks for teaching me everything I know, not just academically, but about myself,” a former student who is now thriving in middle school wrote in an endorsement letter that accompanied Beilstein’s nomination for Anne Arundel County Teacher of the Year.

Beilstein will now represent teachers across Maryland in the National Teacher of the Year competition.

She beat out six other finalists to become Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ second Maryland Teacher of the Year in three years.

Beilstein is the fourth Anne Arundel teacher to win the state award. Josh Carroll of South River High School won the award in 2017-2018, Linda Adamson of Mayo and Jessup elementary schools won in 1993-1994 and Patricia Neidhart of Broadneck High School won in 1988-1989.