My run of inconsistency continues...
I didn't run today because I've spent every spare minute of the last few days nominating a colleague of mine, Rique Ochoa, for the Huntsman Award for Excellence in Education. The Huntsman is the most prestigious award a teacher can receive in Utah and I've decided over the last 48 hours that you should get a Huntsman for nominating someone for the Huntsman!
It comes with a pretty nice (for a teacher) cash prize.
So Rique and I team teach the AP U.S. History classes at Alta. It's a pretty innovative approach theat has led to Alta having the highest number of students both taking the AP class and passing the AP exam for many years in a row. We've been edged out by Davis High at times, but not too often.We typically have 50-70 students in a class with two teachers.
When I decide I wanted to nominate Rique, I began the time consuming process of tracking down colleagues, former colleagues, students, and former students for help. I was stunned at the amount of responses that began pouring in from, literally, all over the world. So I've spent the last several days reading over heartfealt testimonies about the impact Rique has had on individual lives over the last 36 years. He's been teaching at Alta since 1978 when the school opened. I have to say it's been life-affirming for me. Part of being a public school teacher is having to turn on the TV or open a newspaper on almost a daily basis and read or watch how screwed up public education is in the U.S. and how America is going to Hell because our education system is so poor.
So the process of compiling this application has been good for me. Many of the people who have responded are quite accomplished and to hear them talk so positively about Rique and their high school experience at Alta has been really uplifting for me.
Kramer gets his mission call tonight which is a big deal for LDS people. I will be listening on speaker phone when he opens it up and finds out where he's going. I'm pulling for Kenya's Rift Valley!
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