Instead, the English teacher walks around the desks and chairs and shelves to where she’s placed 12 different lamps — a colorful assortment she’s picked up at her local thrift store — and slowly switches them on until there’s a warm glow. It feels like a living room. And that’s what she wants.
“It’s a sanctuary,” Merkley said. “It’s a place where students can have discussions and think and disagree and talk about books.”
In large part because of the welcoming and a little bit eclectic atmosphere she’s created in her class, Merkley was named Utah’s Teacher of the Year on Thursday night.