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Oak Knoll Lower School Educator Honored for Teaching Excellence
Christopher Starr

Grade 3-4 Social Studies and Religion Teacher Kathleen Hoke was honored for her teaching excellence on Friday, October 18, at the annual gala for the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts (METC) in Madison, NJ. The Gala, entitled “Imagine the Future,” is METC’s premier annual fundraiser, and this year’s goal is to support more accessibility to their galleries and programs. 

The award is a high honor for Hoke as METC has a broad outreach to educators throughout New Jersey and runs various popular educational programs for K-12 students. According to the museum’s Executive Director, Deborah Farrar Starker, the award honors “teachers who make such a difference in students’ lives.” 

Hoke has made a difference in the lives of Oak Knoll students throughout the years by bringing Social Studies to life with intriguing and interactive lessons. METC’s mission is to inspire a connection to NJ history, culture, trades, and crafts, and Hoke is uniquely able to do that as she has a Master’s Degree in Museum Education.

Hoke has been taking students on field trips for many years as one component of a unit she calls “Colonial Trades,” where students immerse themselves in a historic trade or craft through language arts, reading, research, building costumes and props, and performing for their classmates.

“My favorite thing about that museum is the kids get to see and touch things,” explained Hoke. “They encounter artifacts they would never see in their daily lives, and that contact brings history so much closer.”

Congratulations to Hoke for her trailblazing teaching and for always encouraging imagination, critical thinking, student inquiry, and project-based learning.

  • Faculty/Staff Spotlight
  • lower school