An Emporia teacher has been chosen as Region 1 Teacher of the Year and will compete for Kansas Teacher of the Year, which will be announced on Nov. 21, at an education conference in Wichita.
Emporia Middle School’s “Connect” teacher Jeline Harclerode was selected as the region’s secondary-education nominee, which encompasses the Big First Congressional District. The announcement was made at a dinner Saturday in Salina, where she and others were being honored for being candidates from their respective school districts.
“I was quite surprised,” Harclerode said Sunday evening. “I did not expect it to go past Salina so I was kinda shaky yesterday when they announced it.”
Harclerode’s nomination was linked to her being chosen last fall as Master Teacher for the district. The Master Teacher program is administered by Emporia State University, and Harclerode subsequently was one of seven teachers chosen as Kansas Master Teachers by the university.
The Emporia school district traditionally has nominated its master teacher for the Kansas Teacher of the Year award.
“We had to do a packet of information, answer questions and turn that in by the end of April for Kansas Teacher of the Year,” Harclerode said.
Judges read the packets over the summer and winners were announced during the weekend in the four districts.
“At each of those four, with the last one being tonight (Sunday) in Kansas City, there was an elementary finalist and a secondary finalist.”
Two teachers also were chosen as runners-up for the honor, which is given by the Kansas Department of Education.
“It’s been an amazing year. I think this second semester, I see it as a real potential for professional growth on my part. I think I’ll learn a lot … learn from other districts at the state level,” she said. “I’m excited at the opportunity.”
As the region’s secondary teacher of the year, Harclerode will travel around the state next semester, to observe other schools’ classrooms, speak to educators in districts across the state, and perform other related obligations as part of the state’s teacher of the year team.
“I think we have some responsibilities at the legislature, and maybe a conference or two,” she added.
In the interim, the eight teachers will face a relatively brief, but intense, vetting by judges.
Harclerode will be the first of the candidates visited by the state team, and it will happen on Thursday of this week.
She spent much of Sunday evening working on a five-minute presentation for a videotape and considering what she might be asked during a 15-minute interview afterward. Thinking about what lay ahead of her was a little nerve-wracking, she said.
“We have to do a five-minute presentation as though we’re speaking to the whole school district,” she said.
The interview afterwards will include five questions that will not be available in advance.
“That I won’t know until they start videotaping,” she said. “The videotape starts once, they don’t do any retakes. It just rolls.”
The judges also want to see the interaction between Harclerode and her students.
Fifty people — more than half of them involved in business — will evaluate the results from each finalist and will announce winners on Nov. 21 at a conference in Wichita.
The Kansas Teacher of the Year will be the spokesperson for education for the year, and will travel the state in that capacity.
“This year’s teacher of the year traveled like 23,000 miles in the car,” Harclerode said. “She does a lot of speaking engagements. Then that person also then has the opportunity to become national teacher of the year.”
Harclerode planned to meet with Superintendent John Heim and EMS Principal Steve Ternes to discuss preparations for the process.
Joni Black, an interrelated special education teacher at Lowther North Intermediate School, was the Emporia school district’s elementary nominee. She and Harclerode were nominated by teachers and chosen by a committee made up of members of the Emporia National Education Association.