Dear Reader,

Southport's Nancie Atwell didn't yell, scream or jump around when former President Bill Clinton and the prime minister of Dubai announced that she was the winner of what some call the Noble Prize of Teaching.

After all, what was a worldwide audience to her. She had been in front of a lot tougher crowds before.

For more than 40 years, she faced eager, and not so eager students, teachers questioning her methods, curious school administrators, national educational experts, tight-fisted school board members and protective parents.

Being named the world's top teacher and given a million bucks by a former president in a bespoke suit and a powerful prime minister in exotic flowing robes, seemed like no big deal for the smiling woman in the sensible black dress.

Well, it is a big deal. A real big deal. Think of it for a moment. The world's top teacher is sort of retired teacher who founded a little private school located on Cross Road in Edgecomb.

But, in some way, winning the award was just another challenge to overcome for the former Boothbay middle school teacher.

After the 1985-86 school year, she left the comfort of a regular paycheck and started the Center for Teaching and Learning because she wanted to teach her way, basing her instructional philosophy on the basics, reading and writing.

It is a tiny school (about 75 students) sporting a library in each classroom. Its website says it is a place where there is neither a raised voice nor a standardized test.

Over the years, it has been a challenge to keep it afloat, and she does not shy away from obstacles.

“I love the challenge and I love the teaching life,” she said in a video posted not long after she won the prize.

“For more than 40 years, I have learned, am still learning, to make a school a place of happiness and wisdom,” she said after praising the other finalists.

And, like teachers everywhere, she offered a few words of encouragement to students who might be thinking of joining her profession.

“It is a privilege to develop relationships with children, to develop methods to transform their lives, to give them perspective on the lives of others around the globe, and to be of use in this robust and nurturing way.”

Mr. Clinton, the honorary chairman of Dubai based Varkey Foundation, which awarded the prize after a world-wide search, praised the teaching profession. He said he would not have been able to achieve his successful career without the help of teachers.

And, before he announced the name of the winner, he looked up from his prepared remarks and reminded the crowd that teaching is not a high-paying profession and that one of the finalists was about to be paid a lot of money.

“And I'll bet most of it will go to benefit children,” he said.

It seems to me that before she traveled half way around the world for the ceremony, Nancie Atwell was asked what she would do with the prize money if she was named the best teacher in the world. True to form, she mentioned something about how her school sure could use a new roof.

Bravo Nancie Atwell.

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