Moab educator Hal Adams named 2008 Utah Teacher of the Year

Hal Adams

Hal W. Adams, a history teacher and debate coach at Grand County High School in Moab, has been chosen Utah’s 2008 Teacher of the Year. Adams is a member of the Utah Education Association.

Rocky Maughan of Logan, a fifth-grade teacher at Canyon Elementary in Hyrum, was named first runner-up, and Linda Ann Walter of Payson, a chemistry and physics teacher at Payson High School, was named second runner-up.

Adams, 51, of Moab will represent Utah in the national Teacher of the Year competition. He has 17 years of teaching experience, the last seven years at Grand County High School. His prior teaching assignments include stints at T’iis Nabaz Community School in Teec Nos Pos, Ariz., and Shonto Boarding School in Shonto, Ariz.

“Mr. Adams made me a believer,” said Grand County School District Superintendent Margaret L. Hopkin. “He is the kind of teacher of which movies are made — a teacher who looks at his students in terms of potential, a teacher who holds impressive expectations and provides students the scaffolding to achieve their higher aspirations.”

About one-fifth of Grand County High School students are involved in debate, and Adams has taken teams to debates at Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern, Stanford and Arizona State. “The important part of the program,” Adams said, “is not winning or traveling, but participating. We have three to four practices a day, before school, at lunch, after school, and in the evening. Hopefully, we find a time for everyone to attend.”

Adams was selected from a group of 23 teachers nominated by their school districts. As Teacher of the Year, Adams will receive a $10,000 check from the Utah State Office of Education, and trips to Dallas for the National Teacher of the Year conference and Washington, D.C., to meet with President Bush.