Congratulations to Amanda Wolfert, the teacher of the year for Derby Public Schools.
Superintendent Stephen Tracy made the announcement at a school board meeting last month. Wolfert is a sixth-grade math teacher at Derby Middle School.
“Amanda is a wonderful example of what a high quality public education can do for children, a family, and in fact, an entire community,” Tracy said. “The most important talent that she has is her tremendous ability to work with children.”
Wolfert was honored to be chosen.
“When I first heard, I literally had to scrape my jaw from off of the floor,” Wolfert said. “I was in shock — completely in shock. It was an unbelievable honor.”
Wolfert has been teaching in Derby for three years.
“There is definitely an intimidation factor there because there is probably a hundred other people that easily could have deserved this ahead of myself,” she said.
When asked about reaching a top honor so early in her career, Wolfert laughed.
“This is seriously intimidating. I hope to continue doing what I am doing,” she said. “My goal every year is to connect with the kids on their level.”
As a child, Wolfert had a difficult time learning mathematics. She takes her experience with the subject to the classroom to help out children that have the same problems.
“I hated math when I was their age. I think that because I hated it and struggled with it so much … I have those resources to pull from to help other kids who don’t get it,” Wolfert said.
Wolfert said her parents had a big influence on her eventual understanding of math. They were extremely patient in helping her learn.
“I have beautiful, patient set of parents that literally taught me algebra with fruit,” she said. “An orange was ‘x’ and half an orange was one-half ‘x’. It was the only way I could learn math. It was really, really hands on.”
Wolfert credited her co-workers as reason for making her what she is today.
“I am just really, really lucky and I have stellar co-workers behind me. I would certainly never be here without them.”
Wolfert completed her undergraduate work at the University of Connecticut. She then attended the University of Bridgeport where she received a masters in science of education.
She also worked as an intern in the Norwalk Public School system and participated in student teaching at Bradley School.
