A teacher from Northwest Middle School in Salt Lake City has been named Utah's new Teacher of the Year.

State Superintendent Larry Shumway surprised reading and AVID teacher Mary Jane Morris at a school assembly Tuesday. Morris earned the award for her work with the school's AVID program, designed to help prepare students for college, and for the way she integrates culture into her lessons, among other things.

"Many years ago I had a principal and her phrase was 'When you do good things, good things happen to you,'" Morris said. "This is the best that's ever happened to me."

As 2010 teacher of the year, Morris will receive a check for $10,000 and a SMART Board interactive white board at a Nov. 6 banquet. Three runners up will each receive $3,000 at the banquet.

Morris replaces last year's teacher of the year, Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh, a second grade teacher at Dilworth Elementary in Salt Lake City.