Sherry Holder of Conway has spent most of her life immersed in teaching history, and now she has won an award for her work.
Holder, who teaches Pre-AP Arkansas history at Conway Junior High School, received the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award from National History Day. Two state winners are chosen: one high school teacher and one middle school teacher. The honor puts Holder in the running for the National Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award. Two national winners will be announced June 18.
“It was a high honor, but also very humbling because a parent was part of the process, and also because of Dr. [Pat] Ramsey. I think highly of her,” Holder said.
Holder said Ramsey, a senior lecturer in history at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, which hosts Arkansas History Day, asked Holder if she would allow herself to be nominated for the honor. Then a parent nominated Holder.
“I’ve just always had a passion and a love for history,” Holder said. “My father was an educator, … and he had a love for history. As a World War II veteran, he used to talk about history a lot. We talked about world events at the dinner table; it was just standard dinner-table conversation.”
She said her father, Glendon Farmer of Conway, was superintendent of the
Florence City Schools in Alabama, but he is a native Arkansan. He made an impression on Holder’s sister, too — Patti Summers teaches history at Conway Christian School.
Holder taught in Ohio and West Virginia before moving with her husband, Barry, to Arkansas in 1987. She taught in the Conway County School District for a couple of years before being hired in the Conway School District in 1990.
“I love teaching the Great Depression and World War II, I really do, but I’m also fond of the Progressive Era and the Reformation,” she said. “It was just a layer cake of social and economic reforms going on in society and kicked the ball into the modern era for the things we enjoy today because individuals stepped out there and pressed reform.”
Holder, who has been at the junior high school the past three years and is chairwoman of the history department, said she will teach 19th-century American history next year.
Conway Junior High Principal Todd Edwards called Holder “the epitome of a great teacher. She is passionate about students and curriculum. She works hard to engage students in learning and instills in them an appreciation for history. As shown by this award, she is also recognized as a leader among her peers, not only at the local level but statewide. We are lucky to have her on staff at Conway Junior High.”
Holder was quick to give credit to other teachers, including Kaye McMillian, who persuaded Holder to become her teaching partner in the 2000 school year at Carl Stuart Middle School. UCA had approached McMillian about starting History Day in the Conway School District, Holder said.
“We started a team there and formed a vertical team with the high school teachers. We would teach basics … and that would continue at the high school,” Holder said. “We had other teachers come on board.
“When [McMillian] retired, Kevin DeStefano, my student teacher, was hired and became my teaching partner,” Holder said.
Holder said DeStefano teaches Pre-AP World History. “We team up on History Day — we teach the whole college skill set to eighth-graders,” she said, to help them learn critical-thinking and writing skills.
It’s important, she said, because “basically, it’s just skills that the kids are going to need in high school. They’ll do projects; Common Core is very projects-based — it’s research, writing and analyzing. Usually at the elementary level, what they’re used to doing is a report. … This is a project, and it’s an analytical project. It’s not just a report; it’s an analysis.”
Holder said the Conway School District has had national winners. “We also go to state every year, and we always have winners who have gone to the national level — we have been highly successful.”
National History Day participation is required for students in AP classes. However, a modified History Day project will be required in other classes next year, Holder said.
“We’re very excited that a project based on the History Day model will be in our classrooms next year,” she said.
National History Day Executive Director Cathy Gorn said the organization “firmly believes that quality teachers are the best educational tools that students have. The teachers selected as Behring-award recipients are a credit to their discipline and exemplify what it takes to be a quality educator.”
Holder received $500 with the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award, and the two national winners each will receive $10,000. They will be announced June 18 at the National History Day competition at the University of Maryland at College Park.
“If I don’t win, I won’t be disappointed. I’m just thrilled to be nominated,” Holder said. “It’s pretty awesome to me to see colleagues from all over the United States and the projects their students bring. We’ve had first-place winners, too.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.