Students Destiny Lugo and Makayla Kidd with CT Teacher of the Year Julia Miller. “She lets her guard down with us. She’s human with us,” Metropolitan Business Academy Senior Makayla Kidd told a room full of students, educators, and city leaders.Kidd was talking about her civics teacher, Julia Miller — who is now Connecticut’s Teacher of the Year.That news was announced at a ceremony that brought students, educators, administrators, and family members together in Metro’s ground-floor student center on Wednesday morning.Miller was selected for the role by the Connecticut Teacher of the Year Council, alongside the state Department of Education, after first being named New Haven’s Teacher of the Year. She is the first New Haven Public Schools teacher to receive the statewide honor since 2005.“Teaching is so deeply a part of who I am,” Miller said.At Metro, Miller teaches civics and social studies, an after-school​“Educator Pathway” class aimed at helping students explore careers in public education, and a course she developed with her Metro colleague Steve Staysniak training students to implement a restorative justice-driven accountability system at school. Her other local education commitments include advising the student council and working with the Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning Collective. She’s a New Haven Public Schools graduate and now has children in the school system.Julia Miller: Teaching is full of "magical moments." As Connecticut Teacher of the Year, Miller can sit on advisory committees, present at workshops and conferences, pursue her own projects in conjunction with the commissioner of education, and generally serve as a ​“teacher ambassador” for public schools, according to the program’s website. She said on Wednesday that she envisions advocating for more pipelines helping high school students to someday become teachers themselves — a vision she’s helped to enact at Metro through her after-school teaching career program.“One of the messages I am excited to share is that teaching is fun!” she said. ​“Not only is there never a dull moment, but there are also tons of magical moments. This is a job where you get to constantly learn.”Atlas Salter, a Metro senior who had Miller as a teacher for Civics Honors, said it’s clear that Miller ​“absolutely loves what she does — you can tell.” “She’s one of the teachers who genuinely prepares us for the world,” Salter added.Atlas Salter. Guests included Mayor Justin Elicker, Alder Carmen Rodriguez, State Education Comissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker, Supt. Madeline Negrón, teacher's union President Leslie Blatteau, and other NHPS administrators. That sentiment echoed again and again in the words of Miller’s students and colleagues.“She and her classroom exemplify student-centered teaching and learning,” said Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers.Kidd described Miller’s teaching style as centered around the notion that ​“what you learn isn’t just what’s happening inside the classroom.” Through the senior capstone class that Miller co-teaches, Youth Justice in Practice, Kidd didn’t just learn about restorative justice as a theory — she and her classmates actually implemented a restorative justice-driven accountability system within their own school. The class serves as an alternative disciplinary system for Metro students, training peer jurors and mentors who come up with recommendations to hold their fellow students accountable for violations of school norms. The class ​“helped me realize my future career,” said Kidd, who hopes to implement similar restorative justice models in other institutions.Kidd has also learned from Miller as an education pathway student. She said that one takeaway from Miller’s lessons about pedagogy — the idea that ​“it’s best to let students come to their own conclusions” rather than telling them what to believe — is a principle she now keeps in mind when mentoring younger students or interacting with her younger siblings.“Ms. Miller, your work doesn’t go unnoticed,” Kidd said. ​“What would really seal the deal is if you gave us all A’s!”Metro community members cheer on Ms. Miller.