Conversations with America’s Best Teachers proudly introduces 18 of the best teachers in the country. Each of our featured teachers was either a winner, or runner-up, for the prestigious National Teacher of the Year Award, and all of them were winners of the Teacher of the Year Award within their individual states. Find out more about the award itself at www.ccsso.org/projects/National_Teacher_Of_The_Year.

Each of the featured teachers agreed to be interviewed with the hope of helping all K-12 teachers and, in turn, millions of students all over the world. It is their hope that teachers everywhere will read their words and steal some of their ideas and methods to use in their own classrooms.

So without further ado, meet some fantastic representatives of America’s Best Teachers!

Click on any teacher to find out more!



Alex Kajitani

Melissa Bartlett

Michael Geisen

Samuel Bennett

Jason Fulmer

Keil Hileman



Joshua Anderson

Dennis Griner

Philip Bigler

Ron Poplau

Kathleen Mellor

Susan Barnard



Kimberly Oliver Burnim

Tamara Steen

Sharon M. Draper

Tamra Tiong

Jason Kamras

Betsy Rogers