Idaho Teacher of the Year 2005

Paula Conley

Idaho Teacher of the Year

2005

Teaching is in my blood. I honestly can’t remember a time in my life when I did not have the desire to be a teacher. As a young girl, I would sit with fascination and listen to my great aunt, a teacher for the United States Air Force, talk about her teaching in exotic locations such as Turkey, Germany, and the Philippines. It wasn’t the foreign countries that captivated my imagination; it was the stories of her students—what motivated them to learn and how students kept in touch with her long after they’d left the classroom.

My path into education was not a straight one. I graduated from college in 1971—at the height of California’s teaching “glut”. I was advised to pursue other fields; roads took me away from education. During this time I pursued a variety of other career options: aerobics instructor, chef, and commercial loan officer. However, there was always the nagging feeling that I was missing my true calling. When I finally made it into my first classroom, I knew that I was where I belonged—in a classroom with students. I feel an excitement when I walk into a classroom and I share my exhilaration and zeal with my students.

I know that the greatest contribution I have made to the educational profession are the connections I have built with my students and their parents. I have always greeted my students at the door with a handshake and a “Good Morning”. This is a practice I started my first year of teaching with first graders and I have continued it throughout my career with first graders, fifth graders, seventh graders, and adult university students. The handshake is a way of connecting with each student every day. I think it lets students know that I care about them. This daily greeting sets the stage for learning.

I have found that forming connections is particularly important with middle school students. These students are at an awkward age where cognitive and emotional dissonance are prevalent. With teachers having 140+ students per day, often students walk into, sit through, and walk out of a class without being acknowledged, spoken to, or heard from. When I greet every student every day with a hand shake and a “good morning/afternoon” before they enter my classroom, I have made a contact with every student I teach. This contact can provide the bridge to learning—the greatest accomplishment of my teaching.

Teachers are those who use themselves as bridges, over which they

invite their students to cross; then having facilitated their crossing,

they bid their students farewell, encouraging them to create bridges

of their own.

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Last Modified 01/19/2005