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Jennifer Gordon, a librarian at Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School, recently was surprised with a Milken Educator Award, which comes with an unrestricted financial award of $25,000.
Gordon became the state’s 45th Milken Award winner, and is the only Massachusetts recipient in 2018-19, and one of up to 40 recipients across the country this school year. The Milken Award recognizes exemplary elementary and secondary school teachers, principals and specialists who are furthering excellence in education.
“Congratulations to Ms. Gordon on this prestigious recognition for her impressive work as a Massachusetts educator,” said Gov. Charlie Baker. “We are fortunate to have librarians like Ms. Gordon who can enrich entire schools by bringing learning to life with activities and opportunities outside the typical classroom.”
Gordon posts students’ book reviews ad decorated book jackets outside the library, encourages her students to write to authors and collaborates with Banneker’s reading and English language acquisition teachers on curriculum and resources. She works with small reading groups of varying levels, runs book clubs for younger students, chairs the specialists’ cluster team, leads professional development, mentors new teachers and works with colleagues on initiatives including kinesthetic learning. She also leads the Adventure Club, which takes fifth- and sixth-graders on monthly outdoor excursions, and serves as a chaperone for the school’s annual sixth-grade trip to Washington, D.C. In addition, she created a makerspace, coordinates field day and the daily morning announcements, and is a member of the school band.
Gordon, a Watertown resident, received a bachelor’s degree in English from Worcester State College in 2000 and a master’s degree in library science from Simmons College in 2002. She has worked at Banneker for 17 years.
