Great teaching is a joyful partnership between students and teachers. I’m honored to be recognized as an educator who strives to develop pedagogy, content, and meaningful relationships. I’m grateful for students who inspire me and to the selfless educators who bettered themselves and one another, despite COVID and attacks on our profession. This award is not an end to striving for excellence, but a push to continually advocate for teachers and students.

Ariel Serkin Walpole, MA | 7-12, Science, 2021

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Ariel Serkin has been teaching since 2001, most recently as a 9th-12th grade chemistry teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS). Prior to joining CRLS in 2021, she spent four years teaching chemistry and physics at Norfolk County Agricultural High School and taught chemistry and history courses in districts across Massachusetts. When Ariel started teaching chemistry after a decade as a history teacher, she looked for ways to take her skills as a historian and bring chemistry alive. Through modeling instruction, students were able to develop conceptual models through experimentation, use of whiteboards, and classroom discussions. Trained as a modeling instruction leader in 2018, Ariel has led numerous workshops for the American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA), STEMteachersMassBay, New England Association of Chemistry Teachers, and at local, regional, and national conferences. She focuses on the concepts of modeling instruction, standards-based grading, and equity in the science classroom. Ariel currently serves as president for STEMteachersMassBay and has served as regional representative for the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) and on the executive board of the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers (NEACT). She also writes for ChemEdXchange. She is the 2020 AACT high school Chemistry Teacher Of The Year and the 2021 recipient of AMTA's Malcolm Wells Leadership Award. Ariel has a B.A. from Brandeis University in history and an M.Ed. from Concordia University in science education. She is licensed to teach chemistry and history.

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