Ansbach teacher receives Teacher of the Year honors from DoDEA, VFW

ANSBACH, Germany (March 13, 2014) -- The Iditarod Sled Dog Race finished this week, and it's likely that no other group in the Ansbach community was more excited about it than Louise Thompson's multi-age class of first and second grade students at Ansbach Elementary School.

The children's interest in the world-famous sled dog race in Alaska was no extra-curricular pursuit, however, nor was it to the detriment of the students' proficiency in standard subjects like reading and math. If anything, their interest in the event helped improve their reading and math skills.

This isn't the first time Thompson has leveraged her students' interests to teach them something. In fact, giving the students a voice in their own education is a daily practice and a staple of her educational philosophy.

That might be one reason she has been named both the DoDEA Bavaria District Teacher of the Year and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Outstanding European Teacher of the Year (Elementary).

"I've tried to do some research," said Collette Tate, Ansbach Elementary School principal, "and as far as we have been able to verify, for the last 15 years there's been no recipient of Teacher of the Year."

For the school, Tate said the notoriety might be exciting, but it goes beyond that. The recognition validates the changes the school has been making, including an increase in the use of computer tech as an intervention for learning and the implementation of student-led conferences during which the students articulate what they are learning and how they are improving.

But perhaps the most obvious change -- and the one for which Thompson and her class serve as a proof-of-principle -- is the school's implementation of STEAM, a platform that covers science, technology, engineering, arts and math education.

"It's a philosophy of education that integrates it all together, so they'll be getting this type of inquiry, problem-solving, project-based learning while they're studying their traditional curriculum and standards on the different grade levels," Tate said.

It was shortly before last summer when Tate handed Thompson a book on project-based learning, a simple act that helped establish a practical framework for Thompson's educational philosophy into the 2014-2015 school year.

It wasn't the first time Thompson had spoken to Tate about the quickly growing educational platform, which is based on the nationwide STEAM initiative.

"I knew right away I wanted to start a STEAM project," said Thompson, who talked with teachers at other schools who were doing STEAM projects once a quarter. "I said, 'Well, I don't want to do a STEAM project once a quarter; I want to incorporate this into my entire day.' So, Mrs. Tate's been great about supporting it."

Walk into Thompson's classroom and it's obvious STEAM has become an everyday focus. Piled into plastic containers are parts from electronics and a collection of miscellaneous items the children have amassed for projects -- everything from marbles to milk cartons.

"We try to build things with marbles or we talk about stuff on the computers, and we use tools. We take apart things and look at the motors and the batteries," said Nathan Williamson, one of Thompson's students. "We try to do projects, like we did with a robot. We used all the parts and made robots with them."

Along with their daily projects, Thompson has initiated STEAM Night, a quarterly activity that brings families together to compete with each other. The first STEAM Night was science-themed and focused on the Apollo landing, so families had to find ways to drop an egg from the school's rooftop without it breaking.

During the last STEAM Night, 25 Families attended the event, which Tate said is impressive because only 145 children attend the school. In other words, about a third of the school was at STEAM Night with their parents.

"I have parents stopping me and asking, 'What is the next STEAM project going to be?' They love them," Thompson said. "They are so excited about them that it lasts for three hours."

When families arrive to STEAM Night, Thompson said she has already decided on a project for them to do, but they don't know what it is. Families are, however, given a few hints beforehand like, "Think slippery" or "Think cold" and are instructed to bring in anything they can think of to work with those clues.

"Parents have bought into this program," Thompson added. "They love it. They are excited about what we're doing. The students are excited about what we're doing."

THE IDITAROD

During the last STEAM Night, "think slippery" was one of the big hints for the competing families as they built makeshift sleds to mirror their interest in the Iditarod.

A bit like fantasy football, every child chose a musher whom they researched and tracked as the race progressed. The children prepared presentations for the class on their mushers, and some read "Balto," about the famous 1925 race during which a team transported a diphtheria antitoxin across Alaska. The team's lead dog, Balto, led the team through whiteout conditions to finish the trek. The students also plan to link up via video teleconference with Alea Robinson, last year's winner of the "Race to the Sky" dog sled race in Montana.

Because of the Iditarod, "the kids are doing a lot of advanced math projects and science," Thompson said. "They'll talk about gravity and we'll do experiments. We did one where they had to fill canisters with different numbers of pennies to see which ones would go the farthest -- to talk about gravity and how the heavier things are the harder it's going to be to make it go a distance."

TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Tate said it was Nathan and Natalie who first nominated Thompson in October for VFW Teacher of the Year.

"We had to write a note about how great our teacher was," said Nathan. "We each wrote one."

Thompson won at complex, district and area levels. Part of her competition portfolio were the two letters of nomination, along with a culminating activity between the class and 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, during which children learned about helicopters in person and conducted their own helicopter-building contest with popsicle sticks, balloons and rubber bands. Thompson is now competing nationally in the VFW competition.

After her initial nomination for the VFW award, Thompson was also nominated for DoDEA Teacher of the Year, which required three letters of recommendation. This included a letter from Tate, the children and from the Girl Scouts groups she leads.

"She uses her same educational philosophy at school as she does with the Girl Scouts and how she educates in the community," Tate said. "So really, she doesn't just leave it here at the door. It goes out, and she's got children from other schools who are in the Brownies and in the Girl Scouts who get to participate in this type of education."

For parents like Kim Rodriquez, Thompson's commitment to their children's education both during and after school is one reason for Thompson's nomination in both competitions.

"It feels really good because I feel completely safe," said Rodriguez. "Her education is not my worry. I don't worry about my child and her education. I love that there's a lot of motor skills -- a lot of hands-on -- she's getting it from everywhere. There's nothing missing as far as the arts and the math and technology. It's great. It's a complete package."

For the DoDEA's Teacher of the Year competition, Nathan and Natalie's mother Katie nominated Thompson for the award.

"I take that as quite a compliment when a parent comes to you and says, 'What you have done for my children has just been amazing,'" said Thompson, who added it was "quite a lengthy" process with an extensive amount of work that goes into the competition portfolio.

This included an essay from Thompson about why she feels she is an outstanding teacher, she said, along with a phone interview with questions for which the entrant is not prepared. Thompson is now competing against teachers in 11 other districts, and each round of competition holds new requirements for the winners. Submitting a video of herself teaching is another of these requirements.

"So, if it wasn't unnerving enough to write about yourself, you're now going to be on film -- and it has to be a lesson from beginning to end," Thompson said.

The DoDEA Teacher of the Year judges panel examines a range of qualities entrants should be able to demonstrate, including a focus on 21st century skills, creativity, problem solving, communication and technological literacy.

"When she has been going through the processes, her educational philosophy has been aligned to what is valued," said Tate, who added that the values include DoDEA standards as well as national standards. She said DoDEA is aligned to best practices across the nation. "She not only has that in her classroom but spreads that throughout the community, so she's educating all kids in great things."

CREATIVE FREEDOM

At the beginning of the school year, Thompson let her students record their own music video for Katy Perry's "Roar." The students created their own storyboards and shot the entire video in one take. Thompson said that's what they were interested in doing, so she let them do it.

"They're just an amazing group of children," Thompson added. "I think a lot of times teachers are afraid to give their children a voice and a say-so in the classroom because you have so much stuff that you have to teach to kids. These kids have a say-so in the classroom. ... When they show an interest in it, then they're motivated to learn about it."

Whether Thompson ends up competing nationally or not, she said what's most important is that her children care about what they are learning.

"I'm excited coming to school in the morning, going, 'OK, we're building something today.' They know they have an engineering project on Monday, and I won't tell them what it is -- which is always fun. So, it really is, it's a buy-in for the whole program. Those kids say, 'Oh, it's 2:30? I have go home?' Our days fly by. It's great to be in there. I have wonderful students."

Still, she's careful to point out it's not easy work for her or her students.

"Do I give you easy work or hard work?" Thompson asked Natalie during a break.

"Hard work," Natalie replied.

"And what do I tell you that you have to do every day?" Thompson continued.

"Struggle," Natalie said.

"Why do we have to struggle? What do we do when we struggle?" Thompson asked.

Natalie paused and replied, "We learn something."

"If everything they come in and do every day is easy," Thompson later said, "they're not learning anything. They're in school, but they're not learning. And I've talked to the kids. There's a difference between struggling and being frustrated. Sometimes it takes a lot of work to learn how to do something, but I am here to do it with you. I am going to sit here with you until we learn it. I think the kids know that I am truly there to help them learn what they need to learn."