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courtesy HuffingtonPost
courtesy HuffingtonPost

Jake Miller, writer for The Educator’s Room, recently sat down for his 2nd installment of his Inspirational Educator series. This month’s honoree was 2013 National Teacher of the Year Jeff Charbonneau (@JeffCharboneau), a science, technology, and engineering teacher at Zillah High School, Washington.

Jake Miller: I think a worthwhile icebreaker for any teacher is “When did you decide to become a teacher?” What’s your story, Jeff?

Jeff Charbonneau: I graduated from the same school that I currently teach at, so it’s fun to be at my alma mater and reflect on “what could have been.” I went to Central Washington University for pre-med and anticipated becoming a general practice doctor. However, 2 things happened that changed the course of my life:

  1. I signed up to be a volunteer at the local hospital for the ER as a clean-up person; during this time I saw the “dirty” side of being a doctor, as I was expected to not only clean bodily fluids from the hospital, but I was also afforded the experience to stay behind to talk to the doctors about the realities of the profession;
  2. The dean of our science college came looking for a tutor for alternative education students. It didn’t take long until I fell in love with tutoring biology and science. In fact, the university’s vast resources soon seemed to be my own. Needless to say, I looked forward to tutoring more than I did hospital visits.

 

JM: For those who don’t know about your honor, how is one selected as National Teacher of the Year?

JC: Every state does things differently, but the traditional route (that Washington follows) is first a school district nominates their top teacher; those teachers then compete at a regional competition, then a state one, and finally a national competition.

In my region, the superintendent and our local association (union) make the selection jointly. I’d been nominated in years past, but I rejected the nomination. I felt it was unfair because I’ve served in our union leadership and didn’t want to seem like I was using my position to my advantage.

However, last year the superintendent sidestepped my continual deflection and overruled me by secretly opening my nomination to our staff. I later found out that I was chosen unanimously by faculty and administration, and I found that to be such a superb honor. In fact, I thought it’d end there.

But many interviews, essays, lesson plans, and observations later, I kept emerging until I was selected as National Teacher of the Year.

 

JM: It seems like being part of your local association is an important component of your teaching. What caused you to become a leader in your local union?

JC: I’ve been teaching for 13 years; in year 4, there was an opening for a building rep at my high school. I had an interest in how unions worked, but I also had a desire to understand how decisions are made and how I could have a voice in those.

Best of all, while getting involved, I was able to positively impact colleagues with their practice – and found that very gratifying. In short, I become more involved because I enjoy helping other people with their rights and with their profession. We are the best advocate for the profession and the stakeholders of education. We benefit from having a great relationship with the administration in our school district, as we continually focus on the “us” rather than the “them” component that leads to finger pointing.

Being part of the union has also allowed me to remind teachers to never underestimate the power of their voice. Many teachers say to themselves, “I can’t lead… I can’t do this outside the classroom.” Teachers are leaders every day. If those 25 Kindergarteners wanted to run you over, they could. But you lead them. Every. Single. Day.

We need teachers to talk about what’s going right in education. We allow others – even ourselves to focus too often on what’s wrong in this great profession. But there’s a lot about what’s right. Don’t be afraid to lead the paradigm shift.

 

JM: What has been the single greatest moment while serving as 2013 National Teacher of the Year?

JC: Well, I’ve been out of the classroom the entire school year, so I’ve seen so much and experienced so many things (Editor’s Note: The National Teacher of the Year is a traveling scholar, and Jeff has served in this capacity since April 23, 2013).

However, when I met President Barack Obama and the First Family on that April day, it was just simply amazing. My family and I received a personal tour of the White House and Oval Office, and then to have the POTUS introduce me to the nation was just overwhelming.

Do you mind me stealing a second great moment?

 

JM: [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Laughs] No, by all means – go right ahead!

JC: The week prior to meeting the national selection, I was given the opportunity to throw the 1st pitch at a Seattle Mariners game as Washington Teacher of the Year. Being a big baseball fan, it was quite the honor (Editor’s Note: Jeff served as a baseball coach at Zillah High School in years past).

Even better, about 100 students, staff, and the community came to support me. This just felt like a giant celebration for the accomplishments of our community. It wasn’t about me, per se, but it was what we had all accomplished together. I could not have done all this without them, so it was great to share the honor before the bigger surprise a week later.

 

JM: You said you’ve “seen so much and so many things.” How much traveling has been part of your role? Where have you visited?

JC: I’ve been to China, Japan, London, Scotland, Paris; visitor to some places, a guest teaching experience at others; the space camp in Alabama was great, and there’s so much more. I’ve visited 24 states so far and logged 175,000 frequent flyer miles, and this experience isn’t finished yet [Laughs].

 

JM: What has been the most difficult experience of your distinction?

JC: To be honest, the 1st day of school was a difficult day for me; it marked the 1st time in my career I didn’t have my classroom. That isn’t to say that I’m not “teaching” – I just have a very different classroom right now. I’ve loved my experience and the amount of information I’ve been able to both share and learn. However, I am looking forward to returning to my class as I miss the students and the community.

 

JM: You’ve mostly recently been in the news for supporting the Common Core – what led you to make that call? What has the response been like from the education community?

JC: The biggest thing about the Common Core is understanding what it really is and what I support and what I don’t within those standards. They are but a set of standards; what they aren’t is curriculum and directions for how to teach. I personally believe that the Common Core is just a logical improvement of the standards that are already in place in Washington and across the nation.

However, one thing I’ve had trouble supporting is how the Common Core are implemented because it varies across the states. It doesn’t seem like they’re always being used properly, and that bothers me.

From what I’ve found, most educators seem to agree with me. The standards themselves are not the issue; the real discussion is what will these standards, benchmarks, and testing be used for.

 

JM: As our nation’s “top teacher,” what is one technique / quality that you would say all quality teachers employ?

JC: Great teachers put relationships first. The relationship has to be the single-most-important thing on a teacher’s mind. Content is important – in my case, the classes I teach are rigorous and can earn students college credit. However, content is secondary to relationships. The funny thing is, when you put relationships first (and not content), you teach to a much deeper level. You personalize the learning. You are able to respond to your students. Great educators put their students’ needs first, and that allows them to accomplish anything.

 

JM: If you could change anything about education, what would you change?

JC: I’d wave my magic wand over something I call “the pendulum.” The pendulum is the great driver of the grandfather clock of education, and it seems to always be moving and torquing to extremes.

For example, testing is a major concern of most educators today. If a classroom teacher like me only gave one test at the end of the school year, and everything depended on that, I’d end up in front of our school board. Yet, on the other hand, if I don’t give a final exam for my STEM classes, the colleges I represent wouldn’t provide students credit. There needs to be more compromise to solve educational issues.

In fact, the best answer for almost any education problem should be “it depends.” Circumstances need to matter. Kids are so individually complex. The solutions to their problems need to complex, too.

 

JM: You named testing as a hot topic. What are your thoughts on statewide and national assessments?

JC: No teacher is completely against testing – heck we’re the ones who created tests [laughs]. The key to testing lies within the assessment. When a teacher gives a test, they know how to interpret the data and take extenuating circumstances into account. That can’t be said for other facets of education. Testing is not the problem – what we do with the tests and how we interpret them is.

 

JM: What role do you see technology playing in education?

JC: Well, I teach engineering & architecture, so my students use AutoCAD and other types of software; we have a 3D printer; there are laser cutters in my class. All of these things make for phenomenal tools that can help students, but they are not solutions to education.

Most of what I teach in engineering has little to do with building construction and everything to do with building student confidence. I have high demands and employ a rigorous and demanding curriculum. But I use technology as a tool to get us there – not a goal.

An interesting fact my students will tell you is the first 3 weeks of engineering is all hand-sketching. We don’t use a piece of technology at all. Why? What is the goal of education? I just match technology to that, which often means paper and pencil.

 

JM: What advice for a current or former student who wants to follow in your footsteps as a teacher?

JC: They should really start really watching their teachers. They will really need to peer in closely to observe how many split second decisions the teacher makes in a school day. They need to ask why a teacher is doing specifically what they’re doing and why. Teaching can look very simple until you completely look under the surface. I’ve found that teachers don’t even realize they’re making 30-40 on-the-cuff adjustments to a lesson to better connect the lesson to their students.

But, most of all, they have to find their passion. They must be passionate about their subject. They need to ask themselves a few questions:  Why do they want to be a teacher? What talents do they want to share? What do you want to be able to give? Can you own this demanding profession?

Lastly, I’d recommend that everybody – regardless of profession and age – needs to be careful when choosing careers. We must be passionate about it. I love my job, and want other people to experience the same thing, whether they choose to be in education or something else.

 

JM: What are your plans after serving your year in this highest honor?

JC: On June 1st, it will be time to pass the tiara [Laughs]. I’m looking forward to heading back to Zillah High School and to return to my same classroom and those same type of students. But that’s not to say everything’s going to be the same. I’ve become such a stronger advocate for education, for my profession, and for my students

I’m also looking forward to continuing to serve on the Washington Student Achievement Council. I was appointed to this post by Governor Jay Inslee, and our committee has been initiated to help guide the transition for K-12 into higher education quality. I’m looking forward to truly developing an enterprising system where we can transition students easily from 12th grade into post-secondary education of all kinds (whether university, technical, or trade schools). I’ll be honored to represent the K-12 segment and act as a voice for our contribution to making better citizens.

 

JM: Thank you for the interview, Jeff, and congratulations on your incredible year.

JC: Thank you. I’ve been following you guys on The Educator’s Room for a while and like what I see. Keep up the great work!

Who makes for #InspirationalEducators? Make your recommendations for future honorees to Jake Miller (@MrJakeMiller)[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Mr. Jake Miller is the 2016 National History Day Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, a 2017 NEA Global...

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