Less than two years on the job, Danielle Gover is knocking it out of the park. Gover, choral teacher at Westland Middle School, is this year’s Rising Star Teacher of the Year.
The honor was announced on Wednesday in the MCPS Staff Bulletin. Per the Bulletin: While early in her career, Gover demonstrates an exceptional ability to tailor her teaching methods to meet the diverse needs of her students. Gover instructs beginning chorus, intermediate concert choices, advanced chorale, and two general music ukulele courses. She adeptly breaks down complex musical concepts into understandable parts, ensuring every student comprehends and appreciates the content.
Gover effectively adjusts lessons for autism resource services inclusion classes and designs curriculum for the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. Colleagues observe that in her classroom, every student sings with confidence and conviction, highlighting her talent in fostering confidence and curiosity even in the most reserved students.
Gover’s love for music began in her youth, singing in choirs, hosting jam sessions with her family, and participating in musicals. Inspired by a choir teacher in high school, she pursued a music education degree at the University of Delaware, studying voice and serving as the music director of an a cappella group and a section leader in the university’s chorale.
Now in her second year at Westland, she has significantly grown the choir program from 60 to 90 singers. In her first year, her seventh and eighth-grade choir earned high and superior ratings, while her sixth-grade choir earned superior ratings. In May 2023, the choir achieved near-perfect scores in adjudications and won first place at Music in the Parks, a festival in Williamsburg, VA, welcoming performance ensembles from across the U.S. and Canada.
Through Westland’s Y’all Come Sing after-school club, she includes more students, regardless of musical experience, catering to those with busy schedules and increasing access to the arts. Additionally, she is establishing an after-school choral program at Rock Creek Forest Elementary School, one of Westland’s feeder schools.
Gover will be honored alongside other recipients at the Champions for Children celebration on Wednesday, May 1, at Carver Educational Services Center in Rockville.