One of the state’s best teachers is here in Northeast Ohio. The Ohio State Board of Education recently named Twinsburg High School English teacher Daneé Pinckney the 2025 Ohio Teacher of the Year.
News 5“This is a wonderful honor for me, but even more so, I think it’s important that I’m able to highlight all of the others around me that didn’t have a giant assembly, that didn’t get to have a giant banner,” Pinckney told News 5. “I am surrounded by amazing teachers.”
Her desire to teach started as a child, influenced by her mother’s career in education.
“My earliest memories were – ‘this is what I want to do.’ I wanted to be a teacher,” she recalled. “My mom is one of those teachers who really loves her children beyond the classroom. So I had a lot of god-sisters and god-brothers and aunties and uncles who were really just her students and their families that she had taken in.”
Some may describe Pinckney’s teaching style as informal. She prefers encouraging discussions, often sitting in small groups with students and playfully tossing a soft stress ball to get their attention.