Marsha Yoder, social studies alpha resource teacher, is one of the original staff members involved since the inception of Lawton Chiles Middle Academy (formerly Jesse Keen Middle Academy) in 1992. She was actively involved in the development of our unique gifted program and has played a strong role in the innovative social studies curriculum at LCMA.

She serves on the School Advisory Committee, as Social Studies Department Head, and as Enrichment Team Leader.

Ms. Yoder has a degree in social studies from the University of Iowa (Go Hawks!) and has been teaching for 25 years. She has had many honors over the years including Outstanding Social Studies Teacher for Hillsborough County, Outstanding Social Studies Teacher for Polk County, and Disney's Teacherrific Award.

Mrs. Yoder has been an advocate for social studies education on the county, state, and national levels. In Polk County, she co-created and coordinated the county’s GeoBowl competition for 5 years and has been active with the E-Team competition. She serves on the Middle School Curriculum Committee and has been working on the county’s core curriculum plan. On the state level, Mrs. Yoder represents District X (a 4-county region including Polk) on the Board for the Florida Council for the Social Studies and is a teacher consultant for the Florida Geographic Alliance. She has done numerous social studies and technology presentations for teachers throughout the state. Nationally, Mrs. Yoder served as the Local Arrangements Chairperson for the National Council for the Social Studies Conference when it was held in Orlando in 1999. She will be presenting ìTelecommunications Goes to the Dogs (LCMA’s 7th grade integrated lab unit based on the Iditarod sled dog race) to the National Social Studies Supervisors Association in San Antonio in November 2000. That unit was also the recipient of a Teacher-to-Teacher Grant from the Polk Education Foundation.

Mrs. Yoder loves to travel, garden, quilt, spend time with her family, and is an avid reader. (Her all-time favorite book is Jane Eyre.) Her latest hobby, scrapbooking, has led to starting a club at LCMA to help students preserve their middle school memories.

Most recently Mrs. Yoder has been trained as an educational consultant for the National Geographic Society and was selected as one of fourteen social studies teachers across the nation to be mentored by NGS through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification process in the area of Early Adolescence/Social Studies-History.

2000 Recipient of Social Studies Professional Award
	This award is given to a Florida Council for the Social Studies member who has been active for many years, and who, during those years has made significant and lasting contribution to the Council. Congratulations Mrs. Yoder!