Christine Trainor, English teacher, recently received the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English High School Teacher of Excellence Award. According to the WCTE, this honor is given to teachers who exemplify excellence in English Language Arts education. Trainor was the only recipient of the award in the state.

“I’m very grateful to be recognized,” said Trainor. “I was very humbled because a lot of the time teachers don’t get recognition for what goes on in the classroom so to be thought of by some of my peers was both surprising and humbling.” 

Trainor was presented with her award on November 12th at Leopold’s Bookstore in Madison. 

“It was a really great event where there were several keynote speakers who presented, just an opportunity to connect to other educators across the state,” Trainor said. 

Eva Gulotta, speech and language pathologist, nominated Trainor for the High School Teacher of Excellence Award.

“I thought that she would make an incredible candidate for the award,” said Gulotta. “I felt that she should be recognized for all the hard work that she does and all the effort that she puts in.” 

Trainor’s colleagues emphasized her adaptiveness and enthusiasm for teaching in her nomination. 

“Mrs. Trainor is very responsive to the needs of her students. She’s focused on ensuring that all students can succeed in her class,” Gulotta said. “She very much wants to adapt the curriculum to fit the needs of students and where they’re at.”

In addition to her strengths in the classroom, Gulotta also mentioned Trainor’s collaborative skills when working with fellow staff members. 

“[Trainor is] an amazing collaborator, that’s really where I’ve worked with her over the years,” Gulotta said. “She’s extremely open, she wants to work together.”

Trainor has an extensive educational background. She got her undergraduate degree from Marquette University, where she studied Education and English with a minor in Theater Arts. She then went on to get her Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in reading from Viterbo University. 

The 2022-23 school year is Trainor’s thirteenth year of teaching. Although she has taught at multiple schools, Shorewood stands out.

“I really enjoy being a teacher at Shorewood,” Trainor said. “I appreciate the community environment here and just how supportive the teachers are of one another, and how this directly impacts the success of our students.” 

The collaboration between staff at SHS have been key to Trainor’s growth as an educator.

“Teaching is really a team effort, and especially here at Shorewood I’m grateful for the amount of collaboration that happens amongst staff members,” Trainor said. “I feel like one of the reasons I can be the teacher I am is because of the support of others that I get to collaborate with on a frequent basis here at Shorewood, whether it’s my department or specialists or administration, we’re all working together to best support students.”

According to Trainor, community is key in running her English classroom successfully. 

“The most important thing to me is that every student feels as if they are a part of the class in some way, kind of that community aspect,” Trainor said. “Students are able to be themselves, they can participate when they want to participate.”

Trainor also looks forward to implementing equity measures that staff have been working on in the past few years.

“We’ve done a lot of discussion as a staff around our equity work and I’m looking forward to seeing how that’s going to impact students,” Trainor said. “There’s been a lot of theory and talk, but now we’re going to start seeing it in the coming years actually impacting students.” 

Jeveah Tillman, sophomore in Trainor’s Contemporary Voices class, says Trainor is persistent about her care for students. 

“She helps by giving quality feedback and cares about all her students,” said Tillman. “She knows exactly how to help when you ask for it.” 

Above all, Trainor’s colleagues and students praise her care and passion.

“SHS is very lucky to have Mrs. Trainor,” Gulotta said. “She’s a teacher who goes above and beyond, just another reason to be proud of Shorewood High School.”