From Staff Reports

Suffolk News-Herald

 

Suffolk native and Norfolk State University DNIMAS honor graduate Dr. Asherrie Yisrael (formerly Sherrie R. Mitchell), a science teacher with Georgia Virtual School, recently was named one of the top three finalists in the nation for the 2012 National Online Teacher of the Year Award for K-12 education.

Yisrael is a married mother of seven children. She graduated valedictorian of her class at John F. Kennedy High School and received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Norfolk State University. She went on to receive master’s and doctoral degrees in educational leadership from Clark Atlanta University.

She has taught Advance Placement and regular physics, forensic science and physical science to students in grades nine through 12 at George Virtual School since 2008.

Yisrael was cited by her supervisor of instruction as “a magnificent instructor who always goes the extra mile.” The Covington, Ga., resident was 2010-2011 Teacher of the Year at Georgia Virtual School and recently became the science department chair, supervising and providing feedback to teachers as well as teaching students.

The National Online Teacher of the Year Award, given by the Southern Regional Education Board and International Association for K-12 Online Learning, recognizes an outstanding online teacher for exceptional contributions to online K-12 education. For the 2012 award, educators in public schools and state virtual schools from 26 states were nominated.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia Virtual School serves more than 10,000 students across the state. It is a program of the Georgia Department of Education’s Office of Technology Services.