Our speaker today loves Christmas songs and sings them year-round. It’s usually contagious and at least one person will join in, especially her students.

Whitney Crews, of Lindale, TX, is a twenty-plus year educator, mostly as a sixth grade teacher in Lindale ISD. The Texas Association of School Administrators selected her as the 2015 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year.

She has proudly represented Texas teachers and students as the keynote speaker and session presenter for many state and national events, including AIE and AAEE conferences, and served as a guest blogger for Education Week and Teachers-Teachers.

As a member of the National Network of State Teachers of the Year she serves on the membership committee, presented at their national conference, contributed to Teaching Partners’ 100 Ways online professional development project, served as a panelist for a national TeachStrong event, and worked with a team at the Aspen/NNSTOY Leadership Meeting in DC last year.

She has been recognized twice in her district as teacher of the month, is a four-time grant recipient, has led many district and region workshops, and has served as grade level lead and subject lead for most of her years there.  She developed a workshop for Region VII’s alternative certification interns and has presented sessions at the Rural Schools Summit and the opening keynote at the Region 7 ESL/Bilingual Summer Institute.

Twice she was selected as a participant in the competitive Discovery Education Summer Institute in Washington, D.C., and Kiwanis International has honored her with the PLGA Youth Leadership Award for her service as a K-Kids sponsor. This summer she attended the Pathfinders Summer Institute’s Maker Educator Bootcamp in Indiana in preparation for her new position this year as the 4th-6th GT teacher for Lindale ISD.

She is the proud mom of Kelsey, a TJC nursing school student, and Makenna, a senior at Lindale High School. She is Mimi to the cutest grandson ever; and has been married to Jeff for 22 years. Connect with her on Twitter @crewswl and at [email protected].