Daisy R. Miranda has been awarded the ESL Teacher Education Award for 2020-2021.

Daisy has been teaching for 21 years and is currently a full time ESL teacher at Neuse River Middle School in Wake County Public Schools. She has accepted a position at Baileywick Elementary School to teach fifth grade for the 2021-2022 school year. Daisy has a Masters Degree in Education and is completing her ESL add-on licensure in May of 2021. Daisy has excelled in her course work in the ESL add-on license program at NCSU since she enrolled in January 2019.

In FL 440, Internship in Teaching ESL, Daisy has shown how well she can work even when faced with adversity and challenges that were out of her control. In addition to the changing parameters of the classroom due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Daisy had to adjust multiple times to teach new subjects, students, and in ways that she has never taught before. She taught fully online, in person, and hybrid during the pandemic beginning in March 2020. Daisy rose to the occasion-- learning new ways of teaching online to engage both students in person and still at home! Daisy was thoughtful in her lesson planning, open to feedback, and dedicated to reflecting on how she can continue to improve her practice. She consistently demonstrated pedagogical and content knowledge in her teaching. She understands the need for students to interact with one another to discuss ideas and improve their language. In addition, Daisy allows students to draw from their full linguistic repertoire and to be successful in her classroom since she can navigate between Spanish, the students’ first language, and English easily.

Perhaps, most importantly, it was clear in my observations that Daisy has established good rapport with her students. They know that she is invested in their learning. She is encouraging, positive, and energetic during the lesson. At the same time she is demanding that the students’ participate and engage fully in her classes.

It is wonderful to have this chance to honor Daisy for all her work both in our program and as a teacher. Thank you for all that you have done for the English language learners in North Carolina.