Chamber Names Teacher of the Year

The announced its 2011 Teacher of the Year award Friday.

Rayna Lee Freedman, a Dedham resident and third-grade teacher in Mansfield, will accept her award at the Chamber’s Spotlight on Education Breakfast on May 20, according to the Chamber.

Freedman is a classroom teacher and instructional technology specialist at the where she has worked since 2000. 

As the Chamber’s Teacher of the Year, Freedman will receive a plaque, $1,000 check sponsored by , and will be nominated for the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year.

Freedman's creativity was one reason she was chosen as Teacher of the Year. Her creative curriculum is focused on a “secret agent” theme where everything the students learn links back to the word "investigation."

Freedman’s attention to teaching with the use of technology, was also recognized. Freedman has personally added eight classroom desktop computers, two laptops, a wireless network and software to her classroom. If that was not enough, she was also responsible for getting software program for the entire school building.

“Creating a classroom environment where students feel like they are part of a community, become risk takers with their thinking, investigate their world, use 21^st century learning skills, and transition into life-long learners is what I consider to be my greatest contributions and accomplishments thus far in this field,” Freedman said, in a release.  “Students need a safe place to go where learning becomes an adventure for them. Their minds open to new ideas and ways of looking at things.”