Her Story
Rebecca Gault teaches sixth-grade language arts at Bel Air Middle School in Bel Air, Maryland, and has spent her career with students who struggle with reading and writing. She says what they crave is “connection”: with each other, with her, with characters that matter and with a powerful purpose for living. A banner in her room reads “Books Teach Us How to Live.”
Her classroom is built as a metaphor for home. On the first day, students stop in the hallway to learn that a “threshold” means a new beginning, then cross into the room to a celebratory song. In one corner she has made a “living room” with a faux fireplace, an oriental rug and couches, and framed photos of her students stand on the mantle. Students make trading cards for the characters they meet, with primary emotions, traits, symbols, quests and theme songs. She teaches dressed as a character, or in a superhero cape “poised to dive into the text to save a character in trouble.”
Her principal, who supervised her for nine years, calls her “a master teacher of teachers” whose work shows “both the qualitative and quantitative data” of student growth. She says her students’ test scores show statistically significant growth, but “more importantly, I believe my students become better people for having been in my class.”
Beyond the Classroom
Gault served for nine years as literacy specialist at Bel Air Middle School, designing and leading weekly professional development for the whole faculty while still teaching the school’s most challenged readers. She is the school’s lead writer of its improvement plan, chairs the language arts department and coordinated its Professional Development School program for student teachers. She earned National Board Certification in Adolescent and Young Adult Literacy in 2010.
In 2011 and 2012 the Maryland State Department of Education selected her as a Master Teacher to lead Common Core professional development across the state. She has led hundreds of workshops for more than 20,000 educators, written teacher resource books and consulted for national education companies. Her students have collected books for children being treated at the Shriners hospital, raised money for local families living in poverty and joined her in Hoops for Heart, and she and her own children visit a nursing home and a veterans’ facility.
Philosophy Into Practice
Gault believes “story characters are transformational, teaching students how to overcome sorrow and find joy.” She greets students each day with an energy that says, “Your presence is a gift to me today,” and expects them to be accountable in a room of engagement and celebration. She asks students to write reflective letters on their strengths and set personal goals.
She worries that technology in language arts classes too often “reverts to the lowest level thinking,” and that the Common Core will be wasted if teachers are not given time to understand it. Her answer is to return her department to the “home” of the discipline: “powerful stories teach us how to love and live.”
“Produce great persons. The rest follows.”— Walt Whitman, quoted by Gault
In Her Own Words
“I am the teacher who greets students every day with an energy that conveys, “Your presence is a gift to me today.””— Rebecca Gault
“Books Teach Us How to Live.”— Banner in Rebecca Gault’s classroom
“Our classroom is a home.”— Rebecca Gault
What Others Said
“Mrs. Gault is a master teacher with a global understanding of curriculum and an unshakable belief in the art, the beauty, and the power of the teaching profession.”— Christina D. O’Neill, nominator and colleague
“I can think of no other candidate as geared for success as a member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame as Rebecca Gault.”— Sean Abel, Principal, Bel Air Middle School
“Mrs. Gault exemplifies moral leadership.”— Patricia A. Ritz, mathematics department chair
“Rebecca’s vision, talents, and accomplishments place her at the pinnacle of even the most exemplary educators.”— Nancy Reynolds, Vice President, Harford County Board of Education
“Her attention to rigor coupled with innovative strategies has benefitted him already.”— Melissa Mickey, Principal, Magnolia Middle School, and parent of a student