Distinguished Teacher Alma Suney Park

I've learned that being intentional and purposeful about creating a classroom culture of safety, acceptance, and respect is just as important as creating an exceptional curriculum. Time spent building classroom community is so worthwhile. Your class will be a place where students are known, where they speak out to share their thoughts, where they take risks and exchange ideas through scholarly dialogue. It will be a place where students do not hide mistakes or ideas but feel safe enough to be vulnerable about weaknesses and appreciated for strengths. In a classroom where walls are down, students are free to be, and thus they are free to engage in true learning.

Teaching provides the ultimate privilege of being able to influence a student's life. Teachers have precious opportunities each day to build a student's self-concept, help shape a dream, provide redirection, and impart knowledge and wisdom that students can build upon to reach their fullest potentials. Seeing these opportunities and acting on them is a choice that teachers make every day. Having these opportunities and acting on them is what I value most about being a teacher.