The University of South Florida (USF) College of Education has announced the recipients of the College’s 2017 Distinguished Alumni Awards, including Booker Middle School Creative Writing Teacher Joanna Fox, who will receive the Dean's Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award. The recipient of the Dean's Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award is recognized as a community member who has demonstrated long-term contributions, achievement and service within education or a related profession—on a local, state, regional, national and/or global level. Since graduating from the College of Education in 1999 with a degree in english education, Fox has served for 17 years at Booker Middle School, and revolutionized the way creative writing is taught to her students by providing them with a comfortable and singular place to let their ideas flow in her classroom that she and her students refer to as “The Dragonfly Café.” Fox has tackled common challenges in the middle school setting through her teaching, such as providing her students a creative outlet to have their voices heard through off-campus poetry performances, and having her students’ families become involved in the writing process at Family Writing Nights. Because of her work, Fox has received numerous awards and recognitions such as the Florida Teacher Certification Examination’s Beginning Teacher of the Year Award and Teacher of Excellence Award, the Arts Leadership Award for Sarasota County, Scholastic’s Outstanding Educator Award and the International River of Words/Kalmanovitz School of Education Teacher of the Year Award. 

Booker Middle School