LITTLE ROCK — Monticello High School art teacher Kimberly Kaye Wilson had suspicions that she was about to be named Arkansas Teacher of the Year on Friday when she saw her parents sitting with Gov. Mike Beebe on the front row of a school assembly.
But she said she was honored by the award, given out by the state Department of Education.
“I have to wrap my brain around this,” she said. “I’m not the only one workingthat hard at this school. I just happened to be the one receiving the attention.”
Wilson, who taught visual arts at Monticello Intermediate School for three years before transferring to the high school this year, has 16 years of teaching experience. She also has taught in the Hamburg School District and at the University of Vermont.
“Kimberly Wilson represents what is right and wonderful about public school education,” Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell said Friday in a news release about the award.
Wilson was among four finalists announced in September for the award. She was chosen after a state Education Department team visited each of the finalists and observed them in their classrooms.
The other finalists wereMatthew Garrett of Rogers, Kara Jones of Conway and Shelina Mashail Warren of Pine Bluff.
Wilson received a check for $15,000 from the Walton Family Foundation and will spend the 2012-13 school year working in-residence for the Education Department as a special adviser. She is also the Arkansas nominee for the National Teacher of the Year.
“Kim has the knack to teach children to look inside themselves,” said Mary Donaldson, principal of Monticello Intermediate School.
“She looks for artistic ability in every child, and she brings it out in every child.
“We need teachers who care enough to see this district’s kids perform,” Donaldson said. “[Wilson] is one of those teachers.”
Donaldson said Wilson recently taught art to specialneeds children, one of whom won a statewide scholastic art contest and presented the work in Washington, D.C.
She also created a program last year for third-, fourthand fifth-grade students to integrate art with math and science. Students built castlesout of clay and then left them outside in various elements to measure and record erosion.
“That set an example of how good she really is,” Donaldson said. “She thinks outside of the box.”
Wilson said she wanted to integrate art with other disciplines to help eliminate the stigma some artists may have.
“They see us as crazy thinkers,” she said. “I want to teach students how to handle the artistic process in collaboration.”
She said she took a teaching position at the high school when a teacher retired so that she could help students develop their art skills further and learn to use their talents in college.
“My job is to teach you how to use the materials available to show an idea,” she said.
“I’ve always trusted kids. I’ve trusted their imaginations.”
Donaldson said Wilson’s award will make other teachers in the district work harder.
“We have high expectations for our students, and when a teacher wins an award like this, I think it trickles down to all of us,” Donaldson said. “When it happens in our school district, it makes us sit up and think, ‘We’re doing something right.’”
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 12/03/2011