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Northern Panhandle Educators up for West Virginia Teacher of the Year Award

WHEELING — Two teachers from the Northern Panhandle are among six finalists for West Virginia Teacher of the Year.

The West Virginia Department of Education has announced Adriane Manning, a language arts teacher at Wheeling Middle School in Ohio County, and Leslie Lively, a fourth-grade teacher at Short Line School in Wetzel County, are being considered for the state’s top teaching honor.

Three of the other four finalists are from the Eastern Panhandle: Teresa Thorne of Hampshire County, Katlin Thorsell of Jefferson County, and Tammy J. Bittorf of Morgan County. Tammy Ann Spangler is from Jackson County.

Teachers representing each of West Virginia’s 55 school district gave speeches in Charleston on Tuesday telling their philosophy about education, and the finalists were determined from these presentations.

Manning practiced her speech a day earlier on Monday before Ohio County Board of Education members. It centered on why teachers should give their students “three F’s” — “be firm, be friendly and be fair every day.”

A native of Wheeling, she teaches language arts in the same classroom at Wheeling Middle School where she once was a student. Manning is involved with the school’s annual spring musicals, and oversees the student-led news broadcast “Wildcat 411” at the school.

She is also the yearbook advisor, and students always seek out her photo within the past issues of the yearbook that are kept in her classrooms.

Manning has been a teacher in Ohio County Schools since 2007, but began her career in the advertising department at the Washington Post.

“It was not what I hoped it would be,” she said. “There was something about going to the Post every day to work. But it was business-oriented, and I wanted to be more creative. It was not fulfilling.”

She told her mother Shelly Lewicki, a retired teacher from Martins Ferry City Schools that she thought she might want to be a teacher.

“She looked at me and said, ‘I was wondering when you were going to figure that out,'” Manning said.

Manning and her husband, attorney Jacob Manning, came back to Wheeling, and she went on to get a master’s degree in secondary education from West Virginia University.

Lively, a native of Porter’s Falls in Wetzel County, has been an educator in Wetzel County Schools for more than 20 years. He teaches fourth grade science, social studies and math at Short Line School.

Lively has built the Engineer Energy Program in Wetzel County Schools, which teaches students about all types of power and energy. The students’ projects have won state championships most years, and a number of national championships.

This summer, he and two students traveled to Peru to participate in the Jason Learning Project, a program that matches teachers and students with scientists working in foreign countries.

The group spent 10 days in Peru observing how insects are devastating the rainforest, and community service also was part of the curriculum. They assisted in the painting of schools and planting of gardens on school properties.

“I took extra paper and crayons for the schools,” Lively said. “That was my contribution as a teacher.”

Lively also is one of three state finalists from West Virginia for the national Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The award is the nation’s highest honor for teachers of mathematics and science.

The West Virginia Teacher of the Year winner will be announced during a ceremony on Sept.18 at the Clay Center in Charleston. The winner of the state honor will go on to represent West Virginia at the national level.

Past West Virginia teachers of the year from the Northern Panhandle are Gail Adams of Ohio County, 2015; MaryLu Hutchins of Ohio County, 2009; David Soltesz of Marshall County, 2004; Ede Ashworth of Brooke County, 2000; Danny Prado of Marshall County, 1997; Myrtle Collins of Tyler County, 1974; and Lucille Ross of Hancock County, 1970.

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