The Presidential Award is a great honor that recognizes my passion for teaching mathematics and empowering students. The award places value on instructional practices such as developing meaningful relationships with students, increasing student engagement, activating prior knowledge, building conceptual and procedural knowledge, and using cooperative learning groups. I feel encouraged to continue collaborating with my colleagues to improve upon these practices.

Nicola Wethall Oak Harbor, WA | 7-12, Mathematics, 2009

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Nicola Wethall has taught mathematics for 12 years and has spent the last 5 years teaching at Oak Harbor High School. She has also taught at West Aurora High School and St. Charles North High School in Illinois, Shuksan Middle School in Washington, and Lahainaluna High School in Hawaii. Nicola’s dedication to improving student achievement extends beyond the classroom as she leads National Honor Society students in providing free after-school tutoring. Nicola’s professional development includes numerous workshops around technology, instruction, and assessment. She strives to share these ideas with colleagues as a peer coach in the Powerful Teaching and Learning Program. Nicola has served on the Oak Harbor School District Math and Science Leadership Team, Math Curriculum Review Team, Hewlett Packard Grant Team, and Technology Program. She has participated in the Washington State Math Standards Training, Instructional Materials Review Team, Supplemental Materials Review Team, and Alignment Study for the High School Proficiency Exam. Nicola has a B.S. in Mathematics Education from Northern Illinois University (NIU), in addition to 60 graduate credits in her field from NIU and Evergreen State College. She is National Board Certified in adolescent and young adult mathematics.

Know a great teacher like Nicola Wethall?