nancie atwell is using her time in the spotlight to continue her life's work.ewshour's april brown reports for our american graduate series, a public media initiative funded by the corporation for public broadcasting. >> reporter: for roughly 40 years, nancie atwell has thought of herself first and foremost - as a teacher. but recently in dubai, she got a major title bump. >> and the global teacher prize goes to nancie atwell. >> reporter: today, many are calling her "the world's best teacher," after winning what's been dubbed "education's nobel prize." along with that honor she was awarded $1 million from the varkey foundation, a non-profit that aims to improve educational outcomes for underprivileged children across the globe. >> i was delighted, shocked, you know gob smacked and so proud to you know to represent my profession. >> the goal is excellence always. >> reporter: atwell was among ten finalists-- competing against nominees from countries including afghanistan, india haiti and kenya. >> this is going to work if you can play it out slowly. >> reporter

teachers like atwell contend those have had a detrimental impact on the development of young minds. >on't experience the pleasure -- i know that's a word you can't use in america when you talk about education. but they don't experience the pleasure of authentic reading. >> atwell feels the education system has been hijacked by politicians, interest groups and the multi-million dollar textbook and testing industry with little regard to the key issues children face as they learn. >>> it's going to be cheaper and more profitable to claim that teachers aren't teaching well and they need scripted curricula and only then will we have high test scores like china. and not admit that poverty and segregation are the issues in this country. you know middle class suburban school districts aren't in trouble. but our city cools in are in troubling. >> paying tribute at the prize ceremony in dubai was bill gates our foundation believes in the power of teachers. >> he has spent more than $200 million pushing the common core. atwell feels he has demonstrated a fundamental disrespect to her profession.

and now her work is rewarded with $1 million. >> the global prize goes to nancy atwell. >> atwell describesat moment as an oral hallucination. winner of the global teacher prize, atwell was selected out of 5,000 teachers. >> i feel like i'm accepted on behalf -- accepting it on behalf of really hundreds of thousands of teachers who work with children every day. i'm so proud. >> reporter: atwell was one of ten finalists who traveled to dubai for the ceremony. flanked by former president clinton and sheik mohammad from the united arab emirates atwell plans to donate the money to her school the center for teaching and learning. >> this will allow us to buy the books and resources we need for kids to keep tuition low and provide a lot of tuition assistance and to maintain the building. >> reporter: an howe author of nine books, atwell says school systems believe the most important years are high school. she thinks it's the opposite. >> i think k to 8 is the place where fires get started, that they get kindled and nurtured and the children who leave our school are so strong across the discipline

nancy nancy atwell beat thousands to wib a prize. >> the global teacher prize goes to... ..nancy atwell >> reporter: she has won what is referred to as the nobel prize of teaching. nancy is disheartened by current education policy in her own country. >> i don't know if americans like children. >> reporter: she was picked from 5,000 international nominees as the first recipient of the global prize and will use the $1 million to enchance the center for teaching and learn, a school she founded not jsut for children and teachers. over several decades she placed an emphasis on giving students the independence to choose which cbooks to read, and the topics they want to write about. >> at other schools i would get a question to explain, and i never really thought about what was behind the math problem, what was behind the literature i was reading. i was finding the facts. >> reporter: it's an approach that contrasts with the prevailing orthodoxy in u.s. education called the common core a set of national standards. states have been given financial inducements to adopt standardized curricular an

you know doesn't work that way. >>> atwell's approach to teaching won international recognition, but in the u.s. there are powerful forces at work pushing teaching in the opposite direction. [ singing ] >>> and it is time for sport of the robin. >> thank you. jordan spieth healed a commanding five shot lead. he set a no record after 56 holes at sebastien auger, moving to 14 understand. >> reporter: jordan spieth was not born when masters scoring record was broken, some 39 years ago. but the 21-year-old continued to dazzle on day 2 at augusta, and he takes a 5-shot lead and makes history in the process. >> i don't want to go with 36 hole, best record. someone that didn't win - someone that didn't win - so ultimately we continue to strike the ball away that we have been playing, and trying to shoot under par rounds this weekend. >> charlie hoffmann is spieth's greatest rival. the american carding a 4-under 68 on friday to move to 9-under. there were concerns for tiger woods and his form. he made the cut after carding a 3-under second-round 69. >> it was a low moment in my career. but t

. >> atwell's approach to teaching won international recognition. in the u.s. there are powerful forces at work pushing teaching in the opposite direction. >>> it seems as if money is falling from the skies for the transportation security administration. $76,000 in loose change was left at security checkpoints in u.s. city's three major airports. nationwide more than $675,000 was collected last year. the t.s.a. received authority from congress in 2005 to spend unclaimed money o on security operations. i'm thomas drayton in new york. thanks for watching. watching. . >> we are not in a position to move on a path towards the future >>> u.s. president obama hails an historic meeting with cuba's raul castro. hello, welcome to al jazeera, live from our headquarters in doha. also ahead - three saudi soldiers killed in fights with houthi rebels on the border of yemen >>> kenya tells the u.n. t

. >> the prize goes to nancy atwell. >> she has won the nobel prize of teaching, but she is disheartened by current education policy in her own country. >> i don't even know if americans like children right now. >> she was chosen from 5,000 nominees as the first recipient of the global teacher prize. she will use her $1 million in prize money to further enhance the center for teaching and learning the school she founded not just for children, but for teachers from around the world. she has placed emphases on giving students the independence to choose which books to read and the topics they want to write about. >> at other schools, i would get a question and say explain and i never really thought about what was behind the math problem what was behind the literature. i was just reading and finding the facts. >> it's an approach contrasting with the prevailing u.s. education called the common core a set of national educational standards states have been given financial inducements to adopt standardized curricular and testing to meet them. teachers like at well contend those have had a detri