Michelle Cottrell-Williams

Michelle Cottrell-Williams is the 2018 Virginia Teacher of the Year and a member of the National Network of State Teachers of the Year. She considers herself a disruptor and hopes to empower others to rethink the status quo. Michelle was a high school teacher and instructional coach for 15 years in Arlington before transitioning to support Equity and Cultural Responsiveness across the division in Fairfax. She is most passionate about supporting educators to create equitable school and classroom cultures of safety and belonging, and was inspired by Brené Brown to focus on forming relationships built on vulnerability, trust, and empathy. Michelle earned her first Master of Education in Secondary Social Studies Education from the George Washington University and a second in Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and Exceptional Learners from George Mason University. She completed a PreK-12 Administration and Supervision graduate program at Longwood University and is now a doctoral student at Walden University studying secondary teachers’ perspectives about belongingness and marginalization. In 2019, Michelle was featured as a changemaker in education on Brené Brown's Daring Classrooms interview series. She has also appeared as a guest and co-host on education podcasts, written blog posts and articles, and contributed as a subject matter expert to books about progressive education and equitable teaching. She has presented at universities and education conferences and collaborated with leaders at the local and state levels to develop strategic, practical policy solutions related to education, including equity, teacher retention, and authentic assessment. If Michelle had to choose which animal best represents her, it would have to be a unicorn: part glitter, part rebel.