Education Majors Meet Oklahoma State Teacher of the Year

April 27, 2016

Monday, April 25, Shawn Sheehan, the current State Teacher of the Year in Oklahoma, visited OBU’s campus to speak with OBU education majors. He shared words of encouragement and stories of how can make a dramatic positive impact on their students. The event took place in OBU’s Mabee Suite in the Noble Complex

Sheehan also shared a message of inspiration and challenge with area site teachers of the year later that afternoon. The event was sponsored by OBU’s chapter of the Student Professional Oklahoma Educators and Kappa Delta Pi.

Sheehan teaches special education and Algebra I at Norman High School, where he began his teaching career and has taught for four years. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Arizona State University and a master’s degree in special education from the University of Oklahoma.

While participating in the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s (OSDE) OKMath and OKSci Leadership program in 2013, he launched a multimedia campaign to boost public perceptions of teaching and improve morale among educators titled “Teach Like Me.”

As Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, Sheehan is spending the year as Oklahoma’s teacher ambassador, traveling across the state to meet with education stakeholders and representing Oklahoma in the National Teacher of the Year competition.

Sheehan was selected by a panel of 21 state judges with education, business and community service backgrounds. He was one of 12 finalists previously named by a group of regional judges representing every part of the state.

The Oklahoma Teacher of the Year program is organized by OSDE in conjunction with the national competition.

“In a time when there is so much negativity surrounding education, Mr. Sheehan provided words of encouragement to our teacher candidates,” says Dr. Pam Robinson, dean of OBU’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “We were also privileged to have several local site Teachers of the Year present. They shared their perspective, which served to further confirm the desperate need for effective teachers.”

“This event was an effort led by our chapter of the Student Professional Oklahoma Educators and Kappa Delta Pi organizations,” Robinson said. “I was excited when the leadership of these two organizations came to the teacher education faculty with a desire to provide such opportunities to our teacher education candidates. We want to collaborate to facilitate similar events in the future.”