Lisa Gaines
Lisa Gaines is among the "sweet 16" finalists for the 2018-19 Alabama Teacher of the Year award.
Lisa Gaines, a seventh-grade language arts teacher at Homewood Middle School for the past 19 years, has been named among the “sweet 16” finalists for Alabama’s 2018-19 Teacher of the Year award.
Gaines is one of eight finalists for Secondary Teacher of the Year and represents the state school board’s District 4.
Others being considered for that award include:
- Janice Kinard, Fairhope Middle School in Baldwin County
- Blake Busbin, Auburn High School
- Lincoln Clark, Berry Middle School in Hoover
- Zestlan Simmons, Booker T. Washington Magnet High School in Montgomery County
- Ashley Nicole Holmes, Falkville High School in Morgan County
- Robin Thompson, Florence High School
- Stephanie Smith, Buckhorn Middle School in Madison County
Teachers being considered for Alabama Elementary Teacher of the Year include:
- Nadine Lynch, St. Elmo Elementary School in Mobile County
- Brittney Duncan, Wrights Mill Road Elementary School in Baldwin County
- Carol McLaughlin, Greystone Elementary School in Hoover
- Meghan Allen, Minor Community School in Jefferson County
- Jennifer Parten, Thomasville Elementary School
- James Wilder III, Odenville Middle School in St. Clair County
- Rachel Pucko, Northport Elementary School in Tuscaloosa County
- Donna Holderfield, John S. Jones Elementary School in Etowah County
These 16 finalists were chosen from among more than 170 teachers of the year selected by individual school districts across the state. A committee put together by the Alabama Department of Education will narrow the field down to the “final four” contenders before the Alabama Teacher of the Year is named at a ceremony in Montgomery on May 9.
Gaines has been certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and has been a mentor for other teachers going through the certification process. She also previously served as an instructor for the undergraduate teacher education program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and for more than a decade has assisted teachers new to Homewood City Schools in setting professional learning goals and writing and monitoring action steps to ensure implementation.
She has served on textbook and course of study committees for the Alabama Department of Education, as well as a state college and career readiness team.
Gaines in 2013 won the Excellence in Teaching English Language Arts Award from the University of Alabama’s Office of Research on Teaching in the Disciplines and in 2016 won the Homewood Impact Award from the Homewood Community Foundation.
She obtained her bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1992 and master’s degree in education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1999.
