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Miami-Dade Crowns Its Top Teachers Of The Year

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho always talks about how precious his teachers are. Well, on Thursday night, one teacher was considered the most valuable of them all.

Precious Symonette received Miami-Dade's 2017 Francisco R. Walker Teacher of the Year Award.

Symonette teaches 10th and 12th grade students.

The decade-long teaching veteran is no stranger to top teaching honors. She has been Miami Norland's Teacher of the Year two years in a row.

Symonette loves the journaling process that is part of her creative writing classes because it provides her with an opportunity to learn about joys, fears and predicaments that her students live through on a daily basis while helping her to discover the writer which exists within each of her students.

Precious Symonette
MDCPS Superintendent Alberto Carvalho with 2017 Francisco R. Walker Teacher of the Year Award Precious Symonette and her family. (Source: @MiamiSup / Twitter)

She beat out Lema Gilliard, Michelle Kelly and Gina Graham.

But before Symonette took to the stage to receive her award, Mia Esposito won 2016 Rookie Teacher of the Year.

Esposito teaches at Lenora B. Smith Elementary School and beat out Rachael Taryn Kraemer.

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