Middle School Teacher Christine Scoby Recognized by Teacher of the Year Competition 

Shorecrest is pleased to announce that Christine Scoby, Middle School Curriculum Dean and Technology Coordinator, has been named a runner-up in the 2023 Tampa Bay Times NIE Teacher of the Year competition. The Newspaper in Education Teacher of the Year contest recognizes teachers who use the Tampa Bay Times to enhance student learning and the learning environment; employ innovative newspaper-based lessons, strategies, or projects to develop students’ literacy skills; and integrate the close reading of news and media literacy into classroom instruction. Chris and four other area teachers will be recognized at an awards event on Thursday, April 20. 

"Finding timely and relevant news is an important part of the research process," says Scoby. "I can't thank NIE and Tampa Bay Times enough for providing such a great resource for my students. I am so honored to be recognized for the work the students and I do together!" 

The Tampa Bay Times is a resource for each of the courses Scoby currently offers in the Shorecrest Middle School, including Digital Storytelling, Technology, Entrepreneurial Design Institute, and Competitive Robotics. It was the project Chris Scoby and her competitive FIRST LEGO League students tackled that most impressed NIE Teacher of the Year judges. 

FIRST LEGO team members were charged with finding an innovative solution to the way energy is stored, distributed, and used in communities. Together the team embarked to discover, "How might we redesign electric lines to be more reliable, repaired more efficiently and affordably?" 

Scoby shares, "Establishing a problem was super easy after reading articles published in The Tampa Bay Times about the length of time it took to restore power after Hurricane Ian, the impact of downed power lines caused by the Santa Ana winds, and grid system failures when ice weighs down lines in unexpected locations like Texas and California." The team’s innovative power line idea yielded second place at the FIRST LEGO League's West Florida Regionals, which earned them a bid to the state competition and the Razorback International Invitational in May.