1995 National Teacher of the Year Finalists Biographical Summaries

Elaine Griffin - 1995 Alaska State Teacher of the Year Elaine Griffin has taught in remote village schools on Kodiak Island in Alaska since 1975. Recognizing the problems inherent in an isolated two-teacher school--high staff turnover rate vs. stability of the program, the need for a variety of teaching skills vs. small number of staff--Griffin implemented a unique answer to this dilemma. Since 1982, she and her husband have shared two positions with another husband and wife team. Each team teaches one semester of the year. This job-sharing arrangement provides a stable base for long-term planning yet exposes the students at Chiniak School to the strengths of more than just two teachers. "When teachers, parents, students, and administrators work together to meet challenges at the local level, the door to excellence is open to all," says Griffin. "The size of the community or school is immaterial. Excellence is as much within the grasp of the student from my school as it is within the grasp of the student from any school," says Griffin. For the past thirteen years, during the semester she is not teaching, Griffin and her family live in a different country for four months each spring. She has done volunteer work in each country, ranging from teaching at an orphanage in Calcutta, to translating medical information at a clinic in Mexico, to preserving native plants at a rainforest nursery in Australia. Griffin's experiences are brought back to her students, who, through a variety of technologies, connect with the world from their small school in Alaska. Griffin's teaching career shows that, as she says, "There will never be a single solution that will be a perfect fit for our diverse society. Don't wish for a unilateral answer to our educational dilemmas. Instead, we should work toward partnerships of families, communities, and educators who enjoy the process of problem-solving." Linda Holt - 1995 Hawaii State Teacher of the Year Holt's teaching career began in the Peace Corps in Nigeria, in a school where the only light was sunlight and chickens wandered through a classroom where students sat at rough benches. The experience taught her the truth of what good teachers do. They teach, no matter what the situation! Since 1970, she has taught on the island of Maui, and currently is a Chapter 1 Reading and Math teacher at the Haiku Elementary School. "My students cannot be successful only in the context of my class, but must experience success in their regular classes," says Holt. "A student's success in school starts in the heads and hearts of his or her parents and teachers. The way we see them, the way they see themselves is what they will become," says Holt. Holt's mission is to immerse her students in a stimulating language environment that demonstrates the purpose of language. She expects her students to learn, assume responsibility, and use language skills. She provides them with feedback and responses so that they become actively engaged in their learning. "Our children's futures as well as our own are at stake," says Holt. "I do not accept the goal of 90% graduation rate. Not one of our students is expendable," Holt states. Since 1988, she has chaired a school committee to plan and activate a staff development process which involves the whole staff in the school improvement effort. She advocates for the inclusion of students, parents and community members in the conversation about school improvement. "I believe that without a powerful vision for the system, strong leadership, and focused staff development, we have slim hope for achieving the kinds of changes which we need to move into the 21st century," says Holt. "And when our society looks at us and says our schools are troubled, what they are really saying is that our society is troubled and by implication they are saying, 'Help us, dear teachers. You are our hope,'" says Holt. Jerry Howland - 1995 Massachusetts State Teacher of the Year Jerry Howland began teaching in 1970 as a means of supporting himself while attending law school at night. He didn't think he wanted a career of teaching. But following his first year at an inner city school in Boston, he decided that any other career would pale in comparison to a career which gives you the opportunity to change the course of students' lives. Howland did, however, continue his study in law and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1977. He now teaches Mathematics and Law at the English High School in Boston. "I feel that my greatest contribution as a teacher has been helping the low-income, inner city students that I serve recognize and achieve their true potential," says Howland. In his Introduction to Law classes he uses mock trials as a vehicle to teach students about important concepts in the legal system while providing an opportunity for them to develop their speaking, listening, reading and critical thinking skills. His student teams have won mock trial championships at the city, county and state levels. "My mission is not to train my students as future lawyers or mathematicians but rather to show them that they can compete with anyone, including students from the best exam schools, suburban schools and independent schools," says Howland. "My secondary mission is to dispel the stereotypes many people have about inner city students," states Howland. He believes in the principle of student as worker, teacher as coach. "I do not try to pour information into the students, nor do I make myself the center of attention. I engage them in active learning and try to provoke them to learn how to learn and thus to teach themselves," he says. "I demonstrate that I believe in the potential of my students by accepting all challenges for them. I give them responsibility and they know that I trust them. They always rise to the occasion," says Howland.  M. Ignacio Tinajero - 1995 Texas State Teacher of the Year. The youngest of twenty children of immigrant parents, Ignacio Tinajero grew up in the barrio del Diablo -- the "devils's neighborhood". He was the first in his family to graduate from college. His own early experiences with teachers who embraced his mother tongue and culture while helping him learn his new language led him to his own calling of working with recent immigrant, Spanish- speaking children, at the Ramona Elementary School in El Paso. His underlying philosophy of teaching is "Believe in what you do: do what you believe." "Education is the means for children to reach their potential and to improve the human condition," says Tinajero. "I play the most critical role in facilitating each child's learning but I can only be successful if I continue to learn myself. The life of a teacher is a seamless, lifelong process of becoming," he says. His classroom is an extension of the community, and his family, friends and neighbors serve as the role models for his students-- helping with field trips, tutoring, and fund-raising for field trips, musical instruments, food and clothes. Each year he provides special recognition for his students, be it a banquet at a restaurant or a plane trip to historical sites in Texas. He helps his students draw the connection between what is learned in the classroom and what happens in the world. "Desire drives my students to reach their goals, but first they must learn to dream and discover the work that will realize those dreams," says Tinajero. Each student is asked to look to the future and identify a role model. The student then displays his or her chosen career on their desk as a reminder that the dream is important, but can only be achieved through action. Tinajero asks his students to demonstrate, at home and in school, the credo: "A vision without action is but a dream; action without vision is a waste of time; but vision with action can change our lives."

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document last updated 8/21/2009