The Auburn School District Board of Directors will recognize Susan James, Melinda Wharton and Regina Butler as 2009 Teachers of the Year at 7 p.m. Monday in the board room at the James P. Fugate Administration Building.

A high school teacher, middle school teacher and elementary school teacher were selected at the district level. Two of the teachers, James and Wharton, were selected to move on to the regional competition. One teacher from each region will move on to the state competition. Then the state winner will move on to the 2010 national competition.

Susan James

Auburn Riverside High School

Language arts

James’s mission is to reach all students who enter her classroom, whether they are advanced, at grade level or struggling. She believes both teacher and pupil experience the most success once a connection of trust is established.

“Once there is mutual understanding and respect, it’s much easier for learning to happen in the classroom,” James said. “I set high expectations for students … they understand that my goal is always for their success.”

James’s personal goal for all students achieving is evident in her development and implementation of the Collection of Evidence (COE) program at Auburn Riverside. The COE is a state-approved alternative to the WASL. After witnessing many students face a road block with the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), James created a curriculum designed to help students with the reading and writing COE. Nearly every one of her students who has completed the assignments and the class have met state standards and earned their high school diploma. James then trained teachers from other district high schools, sharing her strategies so that other students could meet the state standards.

James is committed to her profession. She is pursuing national board certification during the 2009-10 school year. She is the Auburn Riverside yearbook advisor, has served as a member of the state reading assessment leadership team, and scored both the reading and writing WASL.

At a district level, James has participated on the reading, equivalency credit, and Career and Technical Education (CTE) subcommittees. Only in her sixth year of teaching, James attributes her success as an award-winning educator to her colleagues and peers who provide support and advice, as well as to her passion for lifelong learning, her family of educators, and her work experience as a television producer/director for 18 years.

Melinda Wharton

Mt. Baker Middle School

Orchestra teacher

Teaching music is more than scales and notes for Wharton. It’s about helping her students make connections to their learning and the real world that otherwise may not happen in the general classroom. “Research says that when children perform on an instrument it makes them smarter…music makes students well-rounded and lifelong learners. It teaches them life skills like hard work ethic and teamwork,” says Mrs. Wharton.

Wharton feels children learn best in a safe and comfortable environment. She uses humor in her classroom to relax the students and to provide them a non-threatening environment to try new skills. She also believes that gaining trust with her students allows her the opportunity to set the bar high and expect more of her students. Wharton teaches orchestra to fifth through eighth graders and music survey to sixth and seventh graders. She has the privilege of teaching the same students for four consecutive years. Wharton considers herself a second mother to her students since she is afforded the time to build relationships with her students and their parents.

A violinist herself, Wharton turned her passion for playing music into teaching music 12 years ago. Wharton has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education. She has worked on a state level as an evaluator for OSPI-approved sight-reading exercises and all-state orchestra audition materials. Currently, Wharton is taking conducting lessons from the conductor of the Tacoma Youth Symphony and jumps at the chance to play professionally whenever her schedule permits.

Additionally, Wharton is actively engaged in the community. She teaches Sunday school and directs the church orchestra. She also directs Auburn’s summer music camp and is an advocate for the Autism Speaks action group.

Wharton strives to be the best teacher she can be and believes there is always room for improvement.

“I feel that all teachers need to inspire their students to strive for greatness,” she said.

Regina Butler

Lea Hill Elementary

Language arts specialist

Butler teaches students in grades K-5 who read below benchmark and has found her students to be most successful when they are engaged.

Butler believes that creating real world connections to what her students learn in the classroom allows her students to connect more easily to the subject matter and become more excited about learning.

“If I can create fluidity between the classroom and the real world then I make learning come alive for my students, ensuring that once they leave my classroom they are still learning and connecting,” Butler said.

Butler achieves this real world connection by including the school community and the outside community in her students’ learning. For example, Butler’s students dramatize the Writing Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) at a school-wide assembly; participate in a songwriting contest about the GLEs; and present the perks of the Accelerated Reader (AR) program to their classmates at assemblies. By connecting the LAP program to the rest of the schoolhouse, Butler promotes inclusivity at Lea Hill and provides opportunities for students who are not in the LAP program to understand and relate to it.

Butler also fosters community connections for her students through activities like, “Reading with Rover,” a program designed to help children with reading difficulties read stories to a guide dog. Her students also adopted senior pen pals from Wesley Homes and correspond through letters and ice cream socials, and most recently began writing letters to soldiers in Iraq. Mrs. Butler uses these programs to teach reading and writing skills, and to help children build their self-confidence and see themselves as readers and writers.

Butler recognizes that attending school is not easy for every student, so it is up to teachers to make each day meaningful and purposeful.

“Children are here to learn and we are here to serve,” she said.