Broward's Teacher of the Year 2005 is high school technology teacher Frederick A. Williams, who is also a coach to his fellow teachers in the innovative use of technology at McFatter Technical High School.

More than 200 teachers from schools across Broward County were nominated for the honor. (Two of those nominees are actually sisters! Rosemary Hart Rawls teaches at Larkdale Elementary School while her sister Ruth Hart Ghee is a teacher at Plantation High School.) That list was subsequently narrowed down to eight finalists and - on January 28th - Mr. Williams learned he had been selected for the honor at the Annual Teacher of the Year Luncheon held at the Broward County Convention Center.

Mr. Williams' teaching philosophy aligns with the common principals of the Coalition of Essential Schools: learning to use one's mind; demonstration of mastery; tone of decency and trust; student as worker; and teacher as coach. In addition to teaching, Mr. Williams is a Big Brother and mentor for at-risk students at his school and church. He has a Bachelor's and two Master's degrees from Florida State University.

If you were to ask Frederick Williams what he thinks being a teacher is all about, he will tell you in no uncertain terms. "Being a teacher is one of the most important jobs in our country," he said. "It is a noble profession and educating our children is one of the greatest and most important investments of time and money for creating a brighter future."

Mr. Williams has been an educator for 22 years, the last 17 here in Broward County. Since 2001, he has been teaching 11th and 12th-grade students at McFatter. Along with his students, Mr. Williams works with his fellow teachers, helping new educators as well as "revitalizing" experienced teachers. He's been a Peer Teacher/New Educator Support System Coach for teachers at Plantation High and is the NESS Coach for the Computer Programming Instructor at his school. "These opportunities allow me to share my experiences and provide a demonstrative outline of teaching that has proven successful," he said. "My knowledge of the subject matter has helped me develop and share effective classroom techniques and teaching strategies that can be used by beginning teachers who can later refine them as they grow with experience."

He also believes that a quality education, while thought of by some as attending an "A" school or having smaller class size, is best defined by the joy of a kindergarten student when it's time to go to school or the look on the faces of graduating seniors as they walk across the stage knowing they have accomplished something significant in their life.

"The intrinsic reward of touching the lives of our students has been, and continually should be, the major motivation that keeps us in the classroom," he believes. "There are thousands of hard-working teachers working with our children - each day they leave their homes with the goal of making a difference in the lives of their students"-- and that's exactly what Frederick Williams does each and every day.