CONWAY -- Randi House's current and former kindergarten pupils at Theodore Jones Elementary School pointed their fingers and shouted at the state's 2018 Teacher of the Year, "You're awesome!"
Minutes earlier Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key and a contingent of state education leaders and Conway officials had converged on the cafeteria at the end of a school assembly on the importance of reading so that Key could read a story of his own to the school's more than 400 children.
"Once upon a time there was a teacher who made reading fun by letting her students build the bridges for the billy goats in Three Billy Goats Gruff," Key started. "This teacher helped her students grow a beautiful garden and then showed them how to cook and eat the vegetables in her classroom. Wow!
"This teacher created stations designed for each student to help every one of you to learn and grow. She teaches every student how to greet each other with a handshake. She provides flexible seating such as bouncy balls, wobbly stools and rockers," he also read, going on to tell how the teacher works to convey to each child how special and unique she is.
House, who was named one of four candidates for the teacher honor at the state Capitol last month, was wiping away tears and hugging adults standing nearby, just as soon as Key entered the cafeteria and well before Key got to her name in the story.
"Today, that very special teacher starts a new journey in her life," Key continued, "because today we are announcing that the special teacher, Mrs. Randi House, is the 2018 Teacher of the Year!"
The audience of children clapped and whooped while House's work colleagues cheered and captured the event -- including a congratulatory message on video from Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the presentation of a plaque and an enlarged $14,000 check -- on their smartphones.
The $14,000 is in addition to the $1,000 awarded for being a finalist. The teacher of the year will also receive a leave of absence from teaching for a year to visit other schools, compete for national teacher of the year honors and serve as an ex-officio member of the Arkansas Board of Education beginning next July.
Conway Mayor Bart Castleberry proclaimed Friday as Randi House Day in Conway.
"I have no words at all," House told the assembly at the school.
"This was not a dream I had for myself. It's because of you in this room and you sweet babies sitting here. Thank you for supporting me," she said.
House has taught for 13 years, including stints in East Poinsett County and Nettleton before teaching kindergarten for better than a half-dozen years at Conway's Theodore Jones Elementary, where more than 70 percent of children qualify for subsidized school lunches because of poverty. Forty-eight percent of the children are white, 34 percent are black and 15 percent are Hispanic.
It is there that she has guided her pupils through a range of experiences.
Her pupils have talked via the Internet with the authors of books they have read in class. They have traveled virtually to world famous places. After seeing the painted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel on one such trip, the children attempted painting under their own tables to get some sense of the difficulty of the art.
A couple of times a month House and her pupils stage a cooking show, demonstrating for Facebook audiences how to cook Thanksgiving dinner in a slow cooker or how to prepare foods from each of the seven continents that they study. The children recently used mud -- actually pudding -- to practice writing vocabulary words.
An A-shaped black and white tent occupies one corner of House's classroom. A Chromebook station is in another. There are stations around the room for writing, math games and more.
"She's the funnest teacher," 5-year-old Natalie Moix said.
Nathan Howse, also a kindergarten teacher at the school, agreed.
"She's better than any teacher I ever had," he said. "She makes learning fun for students and for teachers" and she has a great rapport with parents.
"There's not much sitting still in her room," he also said of his colleague's classroom that includes his son. "They play hard and they have no clue that they are actually learning," he said.
Michele Linch, executive director of the Arkansas State Teachers Association and a member of the selection team that visited the candidates for the Teacher of the Year honor, said her visit to House's classroom made a lasting impression.
"I saw what I wanted for every child in the state," Linch said. "She was teaching to each child. She personalized the learning," and every child was so engaged in learning at a point in the school year when kindergartners are usually still adjusting to being in a school.
House said in an interview after the assembly that the statewide honor is unexpected and overwhelming but also heartwarming and exciting.
"It's very empowering," she said. "Teaching can sometimes be a little bit of a thankless job. To have the spotlight like this, it warms my heart. It really means something to me. I can tell my story and I can tell my kids' stories. I'm excited to travel and see what is going on in Arkansas and see where this journey leads me. I hope this year will make me a better teacher."
Her own story of becoming a teacher began with a second-grade teacher, Sheila Foley at West Elementary School in Batesville, "who rescued me," after House had a traumatic first-grade year and did not enjoy school.
"I would never have been an educator had I not had the experience I had in second grade," she said. "She built an insanely awesome foundation. She believed in me like no other teacher had. She repaired everything that the bad year had done and showed me what a good teacher could be."
House, 36, is married to Travis House, an engineer, and they have two daughters. She is a graduate of Batesville High. She earned a bachelor's degree in early childhood education and a master's degree in reading from Arkansas State University. House recently attended the Arkansas Leadership Academy and has completed her submission to become nationally certified by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.
House's fellow candidates for the 2018 honor were Amanda Jones of Poyen High School, Tasha Shoate of Cavanaugh Elementary School in Fort Smith and Brittany Berry of Helen Tyson Middle School in Springdale. They were named Aug. 30 at a ceremony at the state Capitol that honored all 14 finalists from all parts of the state for the top honor.
Metro on 09/30/2017