Giving Compass' Take:

• Andria Zafirakou is the winner of the Global Teacher Prize for "World's Best Teacher," and she shares her triumphs as an arts and textiles teachers in Brent, London. 

• How can teachers create a global network of the best practices and approach to community engagement? 

• Read about how teacher development can help educators tackle what they don't know. 

On a recent visit to New York City, Andria Zafirakou spoke at an event in her honor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, participated in sessions at the World Economic Forum, met students at a Brooklyn high school, and even threw out the first pitch at a New York Mets game.

Zafirakou is the fourth annual winner of the Global Teacher Prize, an honor bestowed by the Varkey Foundation that comes with a $1 million check. An arts and textiles teacher from Brent, in northwestern London, Zafirakou is using the money to create a program to connect London schools with professional artists, who will visit the schools and talk to students about their work and career paths. She spoke to The 74 during her stay in Manhattan.

Zafirakou’s organization aims to bring dancers, musicians, painters, writers, actors, and a range of other artists into schools to connect with kids and discuss their careers. The program will start with schools in London and eventually expand throughout the U.K.

Since winning in March, Zafirakou has become an ambassador for arts education worldwide. When explaining what fuels her advocacy, Zafirakou talks about the joy the arts ignite in her students — with a smile that suggests she knows something about joy. She’s quick to point out the bottom-line value of the arts as well, noting that it contributes billions to the economy in the United Kingdom and worldwide and touting the practical skills they provide students.

Passion for the arts isn’t the only thing Zafirakou and her students have in common. She remembers how it felt to be “thrown” into a U.K. school after growing up in a home where the primary language was Greek. Similarly, many of the children she teaches are recent immigrants, and dozens of languages are spoken in the community.

Read the full article about the world's best teacher by Laura Fay at The 74