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Teacher of the Year shares her advice for partnering for student learning


Posted: August 14, 2025

Michelle Young was one of the Newport News Public Schools teachers excitedly reporting to their schools on August 14 to prepare for the new school year that starts August 25.

But this year is different for her. As the 2025-2026 NNPS Elementary and Division-wide Teacher of the Year, the reading specialist for all grade levels at Jenkins Elementary School will be representing her fellow teachers.

"It's a great honor, but I don't see this as a title for me necessarily," Young said. "I feel like it's more a title of my journey and the teachers, students and parents who all have shaped me into who I am as an educator.

"It's not a me award, it's a we award. We did this. I'm just one educator in a great district of educators."

She began sharing both her expertise and her personal story by speaking at the New Teacher Celebration on August 4.

Young is a native of Southern California. She earned her undergraduate degree at California State University-Long Beach and holds master's degrees from Christopher Newport University and the University of Virginia.

What started out as a plan to study kinesiology and become a school physical therapist changed when California cut funding for those services 20 years ago. Young joined numerous family members who had pursued the teaching profession while she relocated several times as a military spouse.

Landing in Newport News, she spent two years at home with her infant twin boys before attending CNU to get her Virginia teaching license. Young did her student teaching at Carver Elementary School, was hired as a kindergarten teacher and then taught kindergarten and first and second grades in eight years of teaching there.

Young was Carver's Teacher of the Year in 2016.

Encouraged by her principal to look at what else she might want to do, Young decided that she was interested in the challenge of how to help students who are struggling with reading.

She applied and became part of the first reading specialist cohort through U.Va., completing the program in 2019.

"That opened the doors for me into literacy, how important it was for me to support those students that needed the additional extra skills and strategies that maybe the classroom teacher might not be fully aware of, but allowed me to help support the teachers and the students in that way," Young said.

"So that was where and how I ended up as a reading specialist. I was at Carver as a reading specialist for five years. And then they transferred me here to Jenkins. So this will be my third year."

Her role now is as more of a coach and mentor to support teachers, though she still works with students in small groups. Part of the leadership team at Jenkins, Young was Jenkins Teacher of the Year for 2025, serves as a teacher mentor, contact person for the literacy team, member of the Principal's Advisory Committee and assists with QuEST Tutoring/WE LEAP.

"I'm hoping that I can serve the district well, but let teachers know that you don't have to be perfect," Young said.

Connecting with students is more important than presenting the perfect lesson, she said. Being present and making adjustments as needed will keep them engaged.

"Sometimes teachers get overwhelmed and you've got to find your joy," Young said. "You've got to remember why you're doing this. What is your why? And I think that's what keeps me going."

She keeps notes and drawings students have made to thank her displayed around her classroom.

"I really enjoy working with the students and the teachers to help everybody see their strengths because everybody has them," Young said. "It's just our job as educators to help them to see what their strengths are and that they are exceptional."

Young offered these tips for teachers, students and families.

Tips for teachers

  • Relationships need to come first in your classroom as well as at the school. In the classroom, when you build those relationships with students, you know them.
  • Once you have that set in place, then the lessons fall in line. You can tailor them to meet the needs of your students.
  • In the building, you want to build relationships so that you can find that go-to person. You're going to have challenging moments. But that person's going to be there to uplift you.
  • One important thing to know about being a teacher is that you're not doing it alone. You have that support system in the building; so you've got to use it.

Tips for students

  • Be kind.
  • When things get hard, don't give up. Find strategies to help you be able to build those stepping stones that you need so that you can succeed.
  • Literacy is the master key to everything. If you have reading, it's not just about books. It can help you with every other subject. So read, read, read.
  • Everybody has their strengths. You need to know what yours are and tap into them so that you can find a love of something that you can learn more about.

Tips for families

  • Build a relationship with your student's teacher. They're on your side. Parents know the students best so they can be insightful on how their child can succeed in the classroom.
  • Try for just five minutes a day giving to your child. Let them teach you something that they learned from school. That's really important because the days get busy.
  • Definitely participate in the reading initiative that we have in Newport News to read for 15 minutes a day. Students can read, but sometimes it's nice for the parents to read so that students can hear what a fluent reader sounds like.
  • Stay connected with what your students are doing at school.