The Washington Post Teacher of the Year Award

2025 MCPS Nominee

Rebecca Burtram, Odessa Shannon Middle School

Rebecca Burtram is an English teacher, 7th grade team leader and testing coordinator at Odessa Shannon Middle School.

She inspires students by building relationships and connecting lessons to her students’ lives and to the world beyond the classroom. She shares stories from her own large and diverse family, which includes students from a variety of backgrounds and paths, and that often creates an immediate bond.

She and her co-team leader take their students on six field trips a year, including a visit to the National Aquarium, connecting science lessons to real-world experiences; a local high school play, which exposes them to literature in action and a potential extracurricular or career path; and an ice skating trip, which challenges students to try new things, push through discomfort and build resilience. Students also visit a local retirement home, teaching the senior citizens how to use smartphones, computers and iPads, and students have lunch and conversation with them. They also continue to strengthen bonds by making holiday cards for the elderly throughout the school year.

A teacher for more than 20 years, Burtram begins each school year by encouraging students to take ownership for their growth in her class; she has them look at their testing data with her and they write goal-setting paragraphs.

Test results are showing that her methods have helped students improve in ELA. Of the 7th grade English students she taught in 2023-2024, 29.4 percent demonstrated proficiency on the ELA MCAP exam in 6th grade. But by the end of 7th grade, 34.1 percent demonstrated proficiency.

Outside the classroom, she has used her content-area expertise as a freelance writer and author, in corporate marketing and communications leadership, and as a keynote speaker. This has helped how she delivers content in class. She breaks down the writing process into easily accessible steps, helping students understand the why behind writing strategies and connecting the content to real-world applications. She also helps them develop confidence in speaking.

She believes that meeting student needs requires collaboration. One of the most unique ways she has done this is by creating the Whole-School Restorative Accountability Program (WRAP), a behavior management program that focuses heavily on meeting students’ individual needs and strategies for success. Colleagues also call her flexible, adaptable and committed to ensuring success for all students.