When Shannon Altom was just starting out as a teacher, she couldn’t imagine a life in education leadership because it would mean a life outside her classroom.
But that was 16 years ago.
She’s learned so much in the years since then that the Bixby High School English teacher now finds herself among 12 finalists to be Oklahoma’s next state Teacher of the Year, to be announced Thursday.
It’s a unique leadership role that takes one of the best of the best out of the classroom and on a yearlong tour to schools and colleges all across the state to help inspire others to enter or remain in a profession that Altom says is experiencing a tremendous amount of strain right now.
“I feel energized in my profession, but I’m definitely not immune to all of the concerns teachers face,” she said.
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Three school years of trying to teach students amid a global pandemic has presented challenges that classroom teachers like Altom could never have imagined.
What do teachers need from state policymakers right now?
“I want them to know we are there for kids. Period,” Altom said. “We are concerned about children and families and our communities and our state and just want to see them grow and experience success.
“Public schools are not just classrooms. It is a whole diverse set of supports for families. We also need encouragement and support.”
She added: “I feel like we are at a juncture where we are not necessarily OK, but we are actually much better than anyone realizes. In Oklahoma, we are no stranger to storms, and the resiliency of our teachers needs to be recognized.”
Each Teacher of the Year finalist has a unique set of individual strengths and practices that could be modeled for other teachers.
For Altom, one message she shares is how to go back to the well and reignite the spark that inspired them to become teachers in the first place.
“It comes in small waves — when a lesson goes well and kids leave the room feeling energized,” she said. “I also keep notes and letters and cards from students.”
There are also two other physical reminders Altom is never without in her classroom.
One is the second-grade English book she never returned as a child so she could use it at home in her earliest days of playing pretend schoolteacher.
The other is something she calls the “pen cemetery” — a big box of run-dry, empty pens that are symbolic to her of all the years she has “poured into students or poured into the pages of their life.”
One of Altom’s professional mentors and cheerleaders is state Rep. Melissa Provenzano, D-Tulsa, who used to be an assistant principal at her school.
“Many, many thanks to all of our educators and the storm they have weathered. We see you and cannot thank you enough,” Provenzano said. “Part of the joy of my job as an administrator was learning how every single teacher is different yet effective — different in their approach, methods and the way they connect with children.
“There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to teaching and developing healthy relationships with kids, but Shannon Altom comes pretty close. The student and she are two halves of a whole team, and the goal is student learning.
“The ownership for learning is on both sides. You can almost feel students stretching themselves to engage.”
She said that all-in approach was also evident on the Bixby High School track, where Altom has been a coach.
“I’d look outside, and she was rarely on the sidelines,” Provenzano recalled. “She was running right along with them. Pushing herself, pushing them.”
The 2022 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year ceremony is scheduled for March 3, and the newly selected Oklahoma Teacher of the Year will travel Oklahoma as an ambassador for teachers during the 2022-23 school year.
The other area finalists are Lauren Vandever, reading teacher at Bristow Middle School; Cindy Johnson, math teacher at Collinsville High School; Shelley Self, art teacher at Coweta High School; Emily Freise, a speech language pathologist at Tahlequah’s Greenwood Elementary School; Donna Ross, who teaches fourth grade at Tulsa’s McKinley Elementary School, and Rebecka Peterson, math teacher at Union High School.
All finalists were first named Teacher of the Year in their respective districts and then selected for the state-level competition by a panel of educators, lawmakers and civic leaders who reviewed their applications.
Teachers in the running from elsewhere in the state are Tina Dewey, Choctaw/Nicoma Park Public Schools; Kerry Ingersoll, Bethel Public Schools; Juan Renteria Jr., Norman Public Schools; Kortni Torralba, Moore Public Schools; and Sheila Treadwell, Snyder Public Schools.
Photos: Oklahoma's 2022 Teacher of the Year finalists
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