A central Iowa educator had been named Social Studies Teacher of the Year by the Cedar Falls-based Iowa Council for Social Studies. Leslie Keehn of Blairsburg has been an instructor at Northeast Hamilton Community School for four years. Keehn says she was nominated by a colleague at the Northwood-Kensett.
“I was really touched, honestly,” Keehn says. “It was a total shock and it was really an honor for me because I really respect him as an educator.” Keehn says her mom is her inspiration as she taught Social Studies for 16 years before becoming an administrator.
She says she enjoys what she’s doing to help get students involved in social studies.”We started Big History this year which is a project that ties together science and history and literacy in a pilot project,” Keehn says. “I’ve done some things with C-SPAN so this is really the icing on the cake with a lot of great things going on with Northeast Hamilton.”
Last year, Keehn was among three teachers picked nationwide to take part in a month-long fellowship at C-SPAN in Washington, D.C. Learn more about the Iowa Council for Social Studies at: www.uni.edu/icss
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City