BOONE—Melanie Greene says her work teaching future teachers has given her the awesome responsibility of touching the future in lasting and profound ways. She accomplishes that task by using what she calls the three R’s: rigor, relevance and relationships. “Rigor involves maintaining high professional standards. I hope to challenge my students to learn as much as possible in each class that I teach,” she says. “Relevance to career aspirations is always communicated to my students. When students see the purpose for what they are learning, their level of motivation is heightened.”

In terms of relationships, Greene says “I want (students) to know that I am their advocate, that it is my pleasure to work with them, and that I want them to be successful in my class and in their own future classrooms.”

As a result of Greene’s success in the classroom, she has received the 2007 UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Greene is a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in Appalachian State University’s Reich College of Education.

The Board of Governors of the 16-campus University of North Carolina selected 16 of its most outstanding faculty to receive the 13th Annual Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

Greene will be recognized during a luncheon to be held in conjunction with a luncheon May 11 at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill. She will receive a commemorative bronze medallion and a cash prize.

Greene has been a faculty member in the Reich College of Education since 1996. She began her career as an instructor for the Watauga County School System. She received the Reich College of Education’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2001.

Greene likes to quote Henry Adams who said, “Teachers affect eternity. They never know where their influence begins or ends.”

Her influence touches students at all stages of development – from undergraduates to graduate students taking courses on campus and through the university’s off-campus degree programs. She teaches an introductory-level class for all students who are interested in becoming teachers, a middle grades internship class for middle grades majors, and senior-level classes for elementary education and middle grades education majors

At the graduate level, she teaches courses that focus on middle school curriculum and research-based effective teaching strategies, and she works with the college’s doctoral program in educational leadership.

Greene says she values the inherent inquisitive nature of the student. “I view the teacher as a facilitator rather than simply a disseminator of knowledge,” she said. “I believe that curriculum must be connected to the needs, interests, and present lives of students. I believe that schools at all levels should play an active role in responding to emerging societal needs.”

Greene holds baccalaureate and master’s degrees in early childhood education from Appalachian and earned her doctoral degree in educational supervision from East Tennessee State University.