We are delighted to inform you that Ms. Danee Pinckney, Twinsburg High School English Teacher, has been selected as Regional State Board District 10 Teacher of the Year! Ms. Pinckney started her teaching career in Columbus, Ohio after graduating from The Ohio State University. There she earned her Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Middle Childhood Education. Later, she realized her passions were more suited to high school, and she received her Ohio English K-12 Certification and went on to earn a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction: Educational Technology from Ashland University.
One of Ms. Pinckney’s priorities is to continually seek new opportunities to challenge herself. In this search, she created a senior-level course on African American Literature, addressing a need for representation sought by both students and community members. She obtained grant funding to support its implementation, and her efforts have enriched educational experiences for all students and staff. Using literature as the anchor, Ms. Pinckney works to encourage students’ engagement in community service and activism projects instilling in them a sense of social responsibility and civic engagement. Her students most recently collaborated with students in Ghana and led a schoolwide project building global community and empathy.
Ms. Pinckney's dedication to pursuing personal growth as an educator has earned her recognition as a Master Teacher Finalist by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation and accolades such as the 2023 Twinsburg City Schools Teacher of the Year and a 2023 Fund for Teachers Fellow.
Since its inception in 1964, the Ohio Teacher of the Year program annually identifies exceptional teachers statewide celebrating their effective work in and outside the classroom. The mission of the program is to provide opportunities for professional learning to exemplary teachers as leaders and advocates for public education. Selected teachers move through two levels of recognition: (1) the State Board District Teacher of the Year as a regional recognition and (2) the Ohio Teacher of the Year as the state-level recognition.
We are Tiger Proud of Ms. Pinckney and we wish her the best as she continues in the State Board of Education's Teacher of the Year state-level recognition program.