Finalists named for Minnesota Teacher of the Year

Eleven teachers have been chosen as finalists for the 2023 Minnesota Teacher of the Year award.

The finalists are: Fatuma Ali, a Hopkins High School English teacher; Michael Houston, a math teacher at St. Paul's Harding High School, Molly Megan Keenan, a social studies and history teacher at Harding High School; Bee Lee, an art teacher at Emmet D. Williams Elementary in Shoreview; Josh Mann, a social studies teacher at St. Michael-Albertville High School; Giovanna Valeria Margalli, a fourth-grade teacher at Edina's Cornelia Elementary School; Sorcha Nix, an eighth- and ninth-grade science teacher at Open World Learning Community in St. Paul; John Peter, a teacher of English as a second language at Pelican Rapids High School; Fathimath Eliza Rasheed, a middle school theater teacher at Global Arts Plus in St. Paul; Joe Schulte, a technology educator at Sartell High School and Allyson Wolff, a Spanish immersion first-grade teacher at Eisenhower Elementary School in Hopkins.

A selection panel narrowed the field of 132 nominees to 44 semifinalists and named the 11 finalists April 6. The annual recognition is organized by Education Minnesota, the statewide teachers union.

Minnesota's Teacher of the Year will be named May 7. The 2022 Minnesota Teacher of the Year, Sarah Lancaster of Onamia Elementary School will present the award in St. Paul.