Ohio Teacher of the Year Melissa Kmetz

<p><strong>Ohio Teacher of the Year Melissa Kmetz</strong> - <em>Season 3, Episode 12</em></p><em>Third grade language arts teacher Melissa Kmetz will spend the next year shining the spotlight on Ohio's exceptional educators and our public schools as the 2023 Ohio Teacher of the Year. She shares her thoughts on mandatory retention under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, the importance of truly seeing students and empowering them to be leaders, and the one big thing she would do if she could wave a magic wand over her classroom.</em><p><strong>SUBSCRIBE | </strong><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/education-matters/id1549004446?itsct=podcast_box&amp;itscg=30200"><strong>Click here</strong></a><strong> to subscribe to </strong><strong><em>Education Matters</em></strong><strong> on Apple Podcasts or </strong><a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy50cmFuc2lzdG9yLmZtL2VkdWNhdGlvbi1tYXR0ZXJz"><strong>click here </strong></a><strong>to subscribe on Google podcasts so you don't miss a thing. And don't forget you can listen to all of the previous episodes anytime on your favorite podcast platform, or by </strong><a href="https://feeds.transistor.fm/education-matters"><strong>clicking here.</strong></a><strong></strong></p><p>Featured Education Matters guest: </p><ul><li>Melissa Kmetz, 2023 Ohio Teacher of the Year<ul><li>Melissa Kmetz is a third grade language arts teacher and Grade Level Chairperson at Lakeview Elementary School in Cortland, Ohio. She was raised in Campbell, Ohio, graduating from Campbell Memorial High School in 1999. Miss Kmetz obtained a full academic scholarship to Youngstown State University and, in 2003, graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Education (Early Childhood P-3). She began her career teaching kindergarten and then first grade in Salem, Ohio. There, she secured a Martha Holden Jennings Grant to Educators, which she used to open a literacy lending library. In 2006, she moved to Lakeview Local Schools, where she has been teaching