Piecing Together the Meaning of The Kansas Teacher of the Year Nomination

I think it was last December when I found out that my good friend Shannon Ralph was named the 2015 Kansas Teacher of the Year! She was/is so deserving! She builds lasting relationships with her students, pushes students to excellence, acts as a leader and role model for our building, and is a huge advocate for education, Biology, and Inquiry Based Learning. That year I was fortunate enough to share a planning period with Shannon, and she pushed me to make huge improvements. During those plan periods we had great discussions about educational theory, technology implementation, and Royals baseball (Mr. Lopez also had the same planning period). It was during these plan periods that we conceived, explored, and planned our Wild West STEM Camp! I will forever be grateful for the time I was able to learn from such a Master! I was so proud and happy when Shannon was named the KTOY because I knew they had chose the right person.

So it came as a great shock when a few months later I was named our district's nomination for the 2016 secondary Kansas Teacher of the Year! Our district is filled with so many great teachers, and I was honored to be considered from a long list of deserving teachers. 

At the time I was working on my last few courses to finish my Master's Degree, and the application for KTOY requires about 22 pages of teaching philosophy, educational issues and solutions, accomplishments, community service, and many other considerations. I really had to dig down deep to write and edit my application while taking six hours of graduate courses, and pour my heart out to my students everyday in class. It was a taxing semester, and I am still not caught up on sleep! In the Spring, I finally submitted my application. 

It has been nearly six months since I submitted my application, and I have been playing the waiting game since then. Tomorrow I will travel to Salina to gather with 30 other teachers to be honored as KTOY nominees. At the luncheon they will announce two finalists from our region to go on and compete for Kansas Teacher of the Year. I am so happy the wait is finally over!

For the last six months my emotions have been a tangled mess. To be honest, I haven't really had a chance to sort through my emotions. Of course, part of me feels happy and proud because I've given my heart and soul to teaching, and it's nice to be recognized for that effort. But, a big part of me doesn't understand this honor. It's not me who deserves or needs any praise. This whole thing is about my students. They are the ones who work their tails off every day. They are the ones who are inspiring. They are the ones who buy-in to all the quirky things I do in my classroom. They are the ones who own the future. I wish they could all be there tomorrow and be recognized for being awesome. They deserve it!

In addition, I'm not convinced I'm the best teacher in my hall, let alone the math department, the school, the district, or the state. I am so lucky to work with some amazing and inspiring teachers who push me to learn more and improve my craft. Again, they are the ones who deserve recognition! I would be a broken down, shell of a teacher crying in the corner without the other amazing teachers who inspire me on a daily basis. 

So, for quite some time, I've been toying with the question, "what does this all mean?" What is the significance of this KTOY honor? On the eve of the luncheon, I think I am finally getting a grasp on what this all means. I look back at the second blog post I ever wrote, and I think the answer is found somewhere in the words I wrote three years ago! The blog post was titled It Takes A Village (you can read it here: http://coffeyhousemath.blogspot.com/2012/08/it-takes-village.html). To me the significance of this honor is that I am a valued piece of a giant puzzle. It feels great to know that I fit perfectly along side my peers. It feels great to know that the puzzle wouldn't quite be complete without me. But, this puzzle isn't about one piece. This puzzle is about hundreds of pieces coming together at the right time in the right place to make something beautiful. From the administrators who took a chance on hiring a retail manager to teach Algebra, to my principal who grants me liberties and allows me to use bouncy balls instead of chairs, to my instructional coaches who have consoled me through tears and frustration, to my teacher friends who give me ideas and books and inspiration to improve, to the custodians who clean the GIGANTIC messes we make in my classroom with M&Ms, PVC pipe, and ice cream (without ever complaining), to the bus drivers who safely deliver me students every day, to the Paraprofessionals who work tirelessly to translate, accommodate, and care, to the parents who work to provide for our students, to our community members who use their votes to voice their support for providing a quality education for students, to the students who buy-in to the idea that they can grow and improve themselves through hard work and effort.

It's a beautiful puzzle. Each piece provides support to other pieces. When you step back, you can get a view of the whole picture and the individual pieces fade into one master piece. I'm so excited to be a piece of that puzzle. I appreciate that the KTOY program recognizes pieces of the puzzle; that's important. But, they're just pieces of something bigger. I think I gain more satisfaction from the idea that I am a part of something bigger. What a cool job I have!