Thank you for recognizing educators across this great country. I have taught hundreds first graders over the course of 28 years as a public school teacher. It has been an honor and priviledge to teach all of these children to love reading and become, hopefully, lifetime readers. The past 3 years my challenge has been to implement the Common Core Curriculum complete with excessive and developmentally inappropriate testing. So when I am still able to inspire curioustiy and joy in learning it is particularly rewarding. Here my little snippet. After a lesson on narrative writing two of my little boys came up to me and said, “Mrs. Sawyer when we grow up we are going to be authors. Dan will write about animals and Jack will write about humans.” They were so proud. Perhaps they have found their life’s work.
Institution: Chippewa Elementary, Brecksville, OH
Class Name: Language Arts
Class Grade: First Grade
