First Runner-Up from Edwin Rhodes Elementary School

I want my students to be thinkers. I don’t want them to just regurgitate what I tell them; instead, they should come up with their own ideas. In high school, my eighth grade history teacher was similar because he made me feel like it was okay to be different and have different ideas. I respected that, and hadn’t been told that before.

Second Runner-Up from Harwood Union High School

"My philosophy is that we are all capable. Everybody has their talents or gifts alongside their personal challenges. If we all can get to know ourselves as learners and as people, we can achieve the most. We all have a story; knowing and valuing that story and being able to share it is important, to know where we came from and who we are. "