Thank you, Ms. Andrews. Good evening, Dr. Lockamy, Dr. Buck, Members of the School Board, sponsors,
administrators, family, friends, and 2015 Teachers of the Year. It is a great honor for me to be here this evening
representing our district’s Teachers of the Year for 2014. This past year has been a journey of growth and
reflection for me, and I am so happy to be here today to help celebrate the 2015 Teachers of the Year. I know
from reading your applications this fall that you are passionate, innovative, and dedicated teachers, who work
hard to inspire your students. Congratulations to all of you, and thank you for all of your hard work!
Many thanks to the sponsors of tonight’s event for all you have done to make teachers feel appreciated! This
gala is such a special event, and we truly appreciate your support. I would also like to thank Dr. Lockamy, Dr.
Buck, and the members of the School Board for your dedication and leadership. Thank you for giving teachers
a voice in our district, and for all of the work you do to benefit our students!
Serving as District Teacher of the Year has been a very rewarding experience, and I am so grateful to Ginger
Masingill and Kurt Hetager for all they do each year to recognize and celebrate teachers. I have also benefitted
so much from the help and support of Allison Konter and all of the members of the Teacher of the Year
Council. It has been a privilege to learn from you all this year, and I am so grateful for your helpful guidance
and your love for teaching.
On a personal note, I would like to thank my friends and family for all of their support this year, and always.
Thank you for believing in me.
This gala is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate good teaching, especially in a world where the challenges
facing teachers seem to grow every year. As teachers, we plan our lessons and evaluate our students’ progress,
but we also go to meetings, implement changes in curriculum, analyze data, differentiate our lessons, meet with
parents, manage our classrooms, and perform the many unlooked-for tasks that always seem to come up
throughout the day. We work so hard to reach ALL of the learners in our classrooms, while striving to increase
rigor and our students’ own expectations of what they can achieve. We worry about our students, and try to
provide them with an education that will prepare them for whatever their future holds. We wonder whether new
teacher evaluation methods will truly be able to capture the elusive art of teaching, just as we wonder whether
our standardized test scores accurately reflect our students’ knowledge and potential. There is never quite
enough time to do all we want to do--often not nearly enough time--and it is often difficult for teachers not to
feel overwhelmed.
Every few months, it seems, I come across an article written by a teacher resigning in frustration, lamenting the
challenges, injustices, and limitations he or she sees in teaching. These articles cause me to wonder: How do
we teachers keep the faith and continue to love what we do, despite the many challenges we face every day?
How do we stay energized and excited about sharing our lessons with our students, when pulled in so many
different directions by the realities of life in our schools? Despite the seemingly endless list of problems facing
teachers, schools, and communities today, teaching remains a vital, rewarding, and transformative profession.
My challenge to you tonight, teachers, is to continue to look for your own answers to these difficult questions
and also to remember the crucial role you play every day in the lives of your students.
For many of us, thinking about why we teach causes us to reflect on why we became teachers in the first place.
A few months ago, comedian David Letterman had some new Teach For America recruits on his show, listing
the “Top Ten Reasons I Decided to Become a Teacher.” The beginning teachers all offered tongue-in-cheek
reasons for their career choice. My favorite reasons listed on the show include: “I want to help kids talk good,”
“you work long hours, but at least the pay is bad,” and simply “the glamor.” This gala is really very glamorous,
and speaks volumes about the support we are so blessed to receive from our community. Still, I would venture
to suggest that there are few teachers who go into this profession with any expectation of prestige or fame. The
teachers I know became teachers because of a sense of vocation or because they see teaching as an opportunity
to shape lives for the better. This might sound hopelessly idealistic, but it helps explain why so many teachers
strive to do so very much. The challenge, of course, is finding ways to keep this sense of idealism despite
issues that could lead to frustration and burnout. So, that brings me back to my question: how do we continue
to find inspiration as teachers?
One of the best ways to inspire our students and ourselves is to learn from the example of those that inspire us.
As a high school English teacher, I have spent a lot of time wishing I could remember more about my own
experiences as a student in a high school classroom. My love of reading came from my earliest teachers, my
parents and my elementary school teachers, but I know that my high school English teachers taught me to write
well, think for myself, and explore the wider world. My clearest memories of my own high school days have
less to do with lesson plans, teaching strategies, and assessment types, and more to do with the feedback I
received from my teachers and the classroom environments they managed so effortlessly. I remember lots of
humor, too: my AP Literature teacher’s jokes about the drums of red ink he would have carted in every summer
ring all too true when I am staring down several piles of essays. To this day, I hardly ever grade in red:
somehow purple and green seem much less traumatic! Most of all, I remember learning from dedicated
professionals who loved what they taught and cared about their students, and if my students remember me in
that way, I will know that I am doing at least something right.
I also constantly seek inspiration from my colleagues, from the wonderful members of the Windsor Forest High
School English Department to the many teachers I have come to know around the country. I have had the
privilege of working alongside many excellent teachers, people who have made me a more thorough, practiced,
and effective educator. We also seek inspiration from the colleagues we meet at workshops, trainings, and
conferences, providing us with exciting ideas to help us reenergize our classrooms and make sure we never stop
learning. This year, I have also had the opportunity to work with colleagues across the district and around the
state, as we address common concerns and look for workable solutions. As 2015 Teachers of the Year, I hope
that you will embrace the opportunity to represent your school in the Superintendent’s Professional Senate next
year. It can be so beneficial to share our concerns and successes, and I encourage you to continue to seek out
opportunities that provide you with a voice as an educator.
Most importantly, I hope that you all, every day, find inspiration from your students. Try something for me for
a minute: think of the first student who pops into your head. [pause] Ok? You all have your students? Now,
think of a way this student inspires you… [longer pause] I would so love to ask you to think, pair, share, but
unfortunately this isn’t the best venue for that. I would venture to guess, though, that some of you thought of
students at the top of their class, who constantly inspire you to set the bar higher for everyone in the classroom.
Some of you probably thought of students who are going through a difficult time at home or at school, inspiring
you to serve as a source of stability, support, and hope in their lives. I hope that some of you also thought of the
quiet student who inspires you to see a wealth of hidden potential that you have been nurturing all year. I would
also venture to guess that some of you thought of students who make you crazy with their ability to disrupt
every lesson. Maybe you are still pondering how that one particular student could possibly inspire you. Maybe
not, though. Sometimes our most difficult students are the ones we learn from the most, making us expert
planners and differentiators, and always making us think about patience and perspective. I know that for me,
my students are one of my greatest sources of inspiration. They produce endless challenges and often a good
deal of drama, but they are all still, always, my students.
We have all had transcendent moments in teaching: the moment when the struggling reader finally has a
breakthrough; when we see our students’ smiles after an excellent game, concert, or performance; when a
carefully planned, engaging lesson goes exceptionally well. These moments can make you feel like the best
teacher in the world, but all too often these moments can be few and far between. We need to treasure these
moments, but we also need to look for inspiration in the everyday classroom. We have the opportunity to watch
our students learn and grow every day, and we have the opportunity to teach them. We strive to make our
classrooms challenging, creative, caring places that encourage our students to learn and achieve success. We
share historical breakthroughs and new technologies with our students, preparing them to become the
innovators of the future while understanding the role of the past. Every day, we follow in the footsteps of those
who first inspired us and work with our colleagues to inspire our students to be knowledgeable and curious
about the world around them. When we succeed in all this, it is not just teaching...it is a form of magic.
Please continue to do wonderful, amazing things with your teaching, and please continue to inspire others with
your example. On your tables, please find and take home a bookmark with a quote from Aristotle, Nelson
Mandela, or Jim Henson. We all need some encouragement along our journey, and I hope these words from
these inspiring people can help remind you of the important role you play every day in each of your students’
lives.
You are here tonight as the 2015 Teacher of the Year for your school because your colleagues believe in you
and have chosen you to represent them and your entire school community. Take advantage of this opportunity
to lead, grant yourself the time for celebration and reflection, and please remember how much our district, our
society, and our students need teachers like you!
Thank you for your time this evening, and once again, congratulations, 2015 Teachers of the Year!