MMI instructor Jennifer Novotney to receive High School Teacher of Excellence Award

MMI Preparatory School English instructor Jennifer Novotney has been selected by the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English Language Arts as one of only 10 national recipients of the 2016 High School Teachers of Excellence Award and was chosen from among 1,700 applicants to give a presentation during the National Council of Teachers of English organization’s annual convention.

The High School Teachers of Excellence Award is sponsored by the Secondary Section of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Novotney will be honored in an awards presentation on November 19 at the Secondary Section Luncheon during the NCTE Annual Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.

She will also co-present a session, intitled “Teachers Who Write: Finding the Teach, Write, Life Balance,” with Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (PCTELA) President Jennie K. Brown. The session is geared toward teachers who write or teachers who wish to find more time in their busy schedules to do so. Novotney and Brown, who are both published authors, will discuss their journeys to publication and their teacher-author-life balance.

Last fall, Novotney was one of seven featured authors at the PCTELA annual conference in Harrisburg. She is a native of Los Angeles and attended California State University and Northern Arizona University, graduating with highest honors in English.

Novotney joined the MMI faculty in the summer of 2013. She previously worked at Misericordia University as a Coordinator of Writing and Adjunct English Instructor, as well as The Pennsylvania State University at Hazleton as an Adjunct English Instructor. Prior to her move east, Novotney taught English at Panorama High School in California.

Established in 2001 by the National Council of Teachers of English Secondary Section, the High School Teachers of Excellence Award recognizes and celebrates high school classroom teachers who are annually selected within each affiliate. The NCTE has 30,000 individual and institutional members worldwide and is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education.