2011 – 2012 Outstanding Teacher Award

Winner Receives $2,500

Entry postmark deadline is April 23, 2012

The Americanism Educational Leaders is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to helping young Americans learn about and better appreciate our country's history.

To show appreciation to the teachers who help students do this, AEL established its "Outstanding Teacher Award", for Civics/U.S. History/Social Science.

The aim is to honor a high school teacher in the above disciplines who has demonstrated in the current year and over the past few years the qualities of creativity, effectiveness and inspiration both in school and in the community.

This award is open to all credentialed teachers in the appropriate disciplines who have completed at least two years at their current school and have given of themselves for the benefit of the students and for the teaching profession in general. Extracurricular activities are considered.

Nominations are encouraged from many sources including fellow teachers, school administrators, parents and students. Postmark deadline for nominations is April 23, 2012.

The winning teacher will receive a cash award of $2,500. Good teachers receive too little reward, and we hope this award is one small step toward their recognition.

Outstanding Teacher for 2010 – 2011

Mr. O'Donnell teaches 7th and 8th graders American History. The scope and sequence is from the founding fathers through re-construction. He also assigns projects like a historic faire where students impersonate a famous American, field trips and research papers.

Mr. O'Donnell also teaches 9th and 10th grade American History. In that course, the students are required to choose a significant event or person, write a 9-page research paper utilizing classic authors, such as, Mark Twain, Francis Parkman, Shelby Foote, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Adams, John Wesley Powell, and Winston Churchill. Students then condense their characters or events into 5-minute costumed dramatizations in conjunction with five to six other students who have researched their contemporaries. For Example, students who researched Grant, Lee, Lincoln, Sherman, the Battle of Gettysburg and the "Underground Railroad," collaborate to dramatize their views on the union, slavery, states' rights, the war, and the virtues or shortcomings of their characters. This synthesis-summary-skit yields some very interesting debates and insights untypical of this age.

This culminating activity is billed, "American Town Hall,"and is presented to all the high school parents every two years. Mr. O'Donnell is one of the key players in preparing the students and showcasing this event.

Our hearty congratulations to Hugh O'Donnell, truly an "Outstanding Teacher "!

For more information concerning this program please email us at to aelmain@americanism.org, call (626) 357-7733 or write:

Outstanding Teacher Award
Project Director
P.O. Box 1287
Monrovia, CA 91017