By: Erik Pedersen, Senior Communications Manager
BALTIMORE – Alicia Amaral Freeman, a 2008 graduate of Notre Dame of Maryland University’s Master of Arts in TESOL program, was announced recently as the 2022-23 Teacher of the Year for Baltimore County.
Freeman was selected as the winner from a group of six finalists which also included NDMU alumna Tracey Dowling ’05 M’08. There were 159 initial Teacher of the Year nominees for the county, which has over 9,000 educators and is among the nation’s largest school systems. As the county’s Teacher of the Year, Freeman is now eligible to be chosen as the overall Maryland Teacher of the Year.
“It was shocking,” Freeman said. “It wasn’t something I was expecting, but it feels amazing to be recognized. I’m really looking forward to using this platform to advocate not just for ESOL students and teachers, but for all teachers.”
Freeman is primarily an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher at Franklin Elementary School in Reisterstown. She also assists at Reisterstown Elementary and the Chatsworth School, working daily with students from several different language backgrounds. For many of her younger students, the focus is primarily on verbal language learning techniques, while older learners are more likely to add in writing and reading lessons based on their proficiency levels.
In addition to providing services to students, Freeman is often a valuable resource for their parents, whether it is running workshops to introduce them to the U.S. school system or helping them access a variety of resources, including adult ESOL classes. After developing an early interest in language learning listening to her great-grandparents speak Portuguese at a young age, she was further drawn to the profession while working as a waitress and bartender in San Francisco following her undergraduate years.
“I was working with a lot of Spanish-speaking guys, and their stories really impacted me,” she said. “A couple of them had been lawyers in their home countries, but they couldn’t use their degree here so they had to start from the bottom. I’ve always been a language learner – my great-grandfather lived in three different countries and was tri-lingual, so a combination of my family’s own immigration story and hearing those stories sparked my initial interest.”
Freeman grew up near Notre Dame, visiting campus to go sledding during her younger years, and that familiarity was one of the factors which led her to enroll in the School of Education’s TESOL program.
“It was a wonderful experience,” she said of her time at NDMU. “It gave me the foundation of teaching strategies, language learning and understanding, and it connected me with a vast network of people. I had some amazing professors – I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.”
Freeman is the latest of several NDMU School of Education graduates who have been highlighted for their professional accomplishments in the last year. Kimberly Culbertson D’22 (2022 Assistant Principal of the Year) and Deana Giannelli M’05 (2021 Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year) were both recognized by the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals, while Scott Hartman M’21 won a $30,000 award from the CIA to promote STEAM education at his Baltimore City school.
With her Teacher of the Year recognition in Baltimore County, Freeman will now work with 23 other award-winning teachers from each of Maryland’s school systems over the next year. The group will collaborate together to support education initiatives across the state.
Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.
