 They belong to me strong and forever free of beauty. Pride of the golden dome. They say, oh, it's where the heart is. We are here to celebrate Susan Koch's work. And really, as she has been saying from the beginning of this whole process, the work of everybody here in the community of UC elementary school and all the Montpelier schools in general. We are so happy to have you all here. I would like to extend a warm welcome to Secretary Holcomb. I know she is here somewhere. There she is. Welcome. And to our state board of education who is going to be conducting their meeting here. And we are so happy to show off all the great things of our school. I'm looking forward to giving you a tour of our beautiful school today. And most especially, I'm a little emotional. These things always make me a little emotional because it's such a special thing for all of us. But most especially, I want to welcome Susan's family. And folks, you must be so proud of your daughter, of your mom, of your wife, as we are equally proud of her. I would now like to introduce the superintendent of schools from Montpelier Public Schools, Dr. Brian Ricca. Thank you, Brian. And join us today at Union Elementary School. Thank you. On behalf of the Montpelier Public Schools Board of School commissioners, I'd like to welcome you all, especially our parents, our community members, faculty, staff, family, Polar Honoree, and students to our Teacher of the Year celebration. We are here to recognize and honor Ms. Susan Cope for her commitment to the profession of education. This is an exciting time to be a part of education in Vermont. And here in Montpelier, I'm incredibly proud that we are among the leaders as Vermont moves closer to personalization and proficiency to better serve all of our students here. Susan is helping us lead that group. Her leadership is popular. Just last week, I received an email from the parent of a middle school student who had Susan when he was in first grade. He was overjoyed when he heard the news that his first grade teacher was the state teacher of the year. And he wanted to come to the ceremony. Susan is an incredible gift to the children in her classroom. She's a gift to the children that she has taught. She's a gift to the children that she will teach. And Susan is an incredible gift to her colleagues, the faculty and staff in this building, whom she always refers to first in terms of collaboration with certain students. Montpelier Public Schools' commitment to personalization, community and sustainability is the key to our students' improvement, their growth and their progress. The leadership in our district, the faculty and staff at the high school and middle school and right here at Union Elementary School are on the front lines of making that happen. In one of our interviews, Susan mentioned that she wanted people to know that magical moments happen every day in classrooms all around the state of Vermont. What she didn't say is that magical moments do not happen without flowing out of the preparation, a commitment to the profession and the dedication to our students. Let me give you an example of some of Susan's magic. Susan began teaching ELL, our ELL camp for English language learners over the summers two years ago. She transformed with her colleagues into an experiential, community-based, technology-rich program. Students practiced their English proficiency with shopkeepers right here in town. They made trips to the post office and they explored the natural environment outdoors, all the while recording and sharing their learning on iPads. I am honored to be her superintendent. She lets me learn alongside her. We grow together in education while together we are all striving to better serve non-pillars children and their families. My name is Rebecca Holcomb. I'm the Secretary of Education in the state of Vermont. I also have the privilege of working with this fantastic group of board members. It's an absolute privilege to be here today in your school to recognize not just you and the work you've done, but the extraordinary work and commitment of your teachers as a whole. It's an absolute privilege to be here today. We're here today to recognize your teacher, but also I want to call attention to some other teachers who are also remarkable Vermont teachers who really embody some of the greatest responsibilities we have. And really their work exemplifies how our professionals in Vermont embrace the challenge of teaching at a time in which more than ever we are trying to grapple with the challenge and the imperative to build a stronger and more pluralistic society. At a time we have presidential candidates who demand religious litmus tests for potential immigrants where we need a Black Lives Matter campaign to remind us that Black Lives Matter at a time when public discourse suggests that some Americans don't seem to have the right same rights to citizenship as others. I wanted to just begin today by recognizing Rebecca Haslund. Where are you Rebecca? Please stand up. And last year is Vermont Teacher of the Year who reminds us every day in her work in her classroom that every teacher in Vermont is on the front lines of our struggle for social justice and that we build pluralism in our classrooms, classroom by classroom at the hands of teachers who really commit to making sure that every child in our state and every child in every classroom is valued in which every child's culture and history is an asset. She is helping us understand the strength and the gifts and the values our kids bring to our classrooms and helping us figure out how to lead them better to make us stronger in Vermont. And Rebecca, your voice has been loud, clear, strong and consistent and I really appreciate the service you've given to the state of Vermont. So thank you Rebecca. For the reception, I won't give you the brief on everyone just because we want to get to the center of today's ceremony but I did want to take a time to acknowledge and recognize some of the other extraordinary teachers who are here today and really think of these as exemplars or representatives of our Vermont profession. First of all, Jennifer Lawson, you were here and you were the Vermont Teacher of the Year in 2011. Where are you Jennifer? I'm here. We're here. Janet Stewart, professional commitment. They're still here to celebrate their colonies. Judy Aller, 1998, 2005, 2014, Jennifer Harper in 2006, 2007. Okay, I'm sorry they weren't here. But thank you all to our recent national conference where one of the Vermont teachers said that Vermont is a wonderful place to work for so many reasons and one of them we thought was the extraordinary teachers that we have in the state and you are exemplars of why I am so proud to work in the state and I really appreciate all the good work you do every day to make sure that we're doing the best we can for our kids. And with that, I'd like to turn to recognize someone who's a little bit closer to home and an extraordinarily special person and I need to tell you that when I first heard her speak and she mentioned that one of her goals was to encourage us all to take care of ourselves, our friends and our communities. It really moved me the way she spoke about that. That probably sounds familiar to some of those workplaces and folks because really that's how we begin to build strong communities and lay the foundation for a strong civil life and civil society down the road and we know that that doesn't just happen, it really takes an educator who cares deeply about our children and cares deeply about helping them learn how to be strong members of our community and that attention to detail over time is what makes your classroom but ultimately the culture of the climate of this entire school such a wonderful and supportive environment for all of our students. In your work and in your work with colleagues, you are very student-centered. Brian Rick has said earlier that you really understand personalization and you learn how to know your students well so that when you interact with them, you're really building up their strengths and finding out what next level of challenge that they have to have. You're able to create an inclusive classroom environment that supports both our students who need the support the most but also challenge those students who become well-prepared to school. We can all learn from this work as Vermont becomes a more inclusive state and a member of a more global society. You also embody what we know as a hallmark of our outstanding teachers. It's this collaboration to build the shared capacity and shared effectiveness of all of us as a team of educators working to support our students and I know and I think most of the other educators of this room know how important that professional collaboration that willingness and generosity with ideas and feedback how important that is to building strong professional practice. Good teaching is incredibly complex. Sometimes people tell me how my job is. I still think being a classroom teacher is harder in so many ways. First of all, you have other people's children and that's an incredible program. We have to do the best we can to them and they're all different and so the challenge of a teacher day to day in the moment trying to understand every single child and figure out what it is we need to do to support it to the next level of learning. That is the hallmark of the master and that is something that you can do in all of your practice. Educators like you share what you've learned. You work closely with others to develop and try out new practices. You challenge all of us to expand what we think is possible for our students and you challenge your students to expand what they think they're capable of themselves and you deeper expand our understanding of how you can support them. So it's a privilege to be here and I'm going to forward now to introducing... Out in the hallway is there someone? Oh. I'd like to introduce you now to Governor Peter Shumlin who gave me the privilege of taking this role. Hey, thank you Secretary Holcomb. Let's give it up to Secretary Holcomb to state board education chair Peter and the staff of Union. Let's give them a shout-out for making this an important lead to the students. Thanks for inviting us over to your house today. It's great to meet you. Way to go. It's a pleasure to be here and we're going to honor a few folks. We're going to keep it short. Raise your hand if you want long speeches. The legislature is hoping for you again. Listen, this is a big day for Vermont. You know that what your teachers, what your staff, what the entire parents, taxpayers all want to do is make sure that Vermont continues to be the state that gives each and every one of you the best hold for a great future, a great job and a great quality of life right here in Vermont. And we can't do that if we don't have the best schools in America. So we're proud of the best schools in America. We're proud of the best teachers in America and we get to award a few awards to a few of them today. That doesn't mean the rest of the teachers aren't as great. So let's give it up to all the teachers across Vermont. Thank you Chris Hennessey. Thanks to your great principal, Brian Rickon. You're super attendant, sorry. And obviously Rebecca Hoke, you've done such a great job. But I get to hand out three awards today. The first book award goes to, is really as simple, of the amazing things that can happen in a high school classroom when you combine communication skills with ethnograph, ethnograph, what is that word? Who knows it, ethnography, who said that? From Vermont, they never taught me that. And service farming. And we're very happy that you could join us today. The 2016 Vermont Teacher of the Year Distinguished Finalist is Steven Rand of Harwood High School. That's a great high school class to hear. Let's give it a hand. A full young teacher who's demonstrated great promise as a leader in her school. This science educator has developed and taught a science technology engineering and math education capstone. We all know that Vermont has a huge shortage of students who are well trained enough in math, science, technology, IT engineering. And she's been teaching a capstone course ensuring Brooklyn students are college ready and career ready regardless of whether they were born with mountains of opportunity or mountains of challenges. So it's a great honor to give the 2016 Vermont Teacher of the Year alternate to Anne Marie Mayhart of Revlon High School. It's that Union gets the Teacher of the Year award for 2016. We have a lot of former teachers of the year here. It's an incredibly important role. It not only inspires teachers, educators, students across Vermont. They go on the road, talk about why they're so good, why their jobs so important, why democracy can't survive without extraordinarily good teachers. But this person also gets to go to Washington, D.C. and spend some time with the President of the United States talking about why Vermont teachers are so great. So the 2016 Vermont Teacher of the Year award this year goes to Union's Susan Koch. I'm not going to say Koch is it because it's got too much sugar in it. But Susan Koch is the Vermont Teacher of the Year. Because she's a first grade teacher, she's dedicated to enriching the lives of every student that she teaches. She plans small group of individual instructions to give each child the attention he or she needs to be successful. And I can tell you that this award means a lot to me as a governor. I'm a governor who learns differently. I'm dyslexic. I had a terrible time learning how to read. And if it hadn't been for a teacher like Susan who decided that they saw something in me that other folks didn't, I wouldn't have learned how to read. And I've got to tell you it really helps to be able to read if you're a governor. Susan is considered by our colleagues to be a teacher leader. Within the school and within the community. Is that true fellow teachers? Yeah. She leads difficult meetings with skill, grace, and kindness. She's committed to building a sense of community by mentoring new teachers, which is incredibly important. Creating open lines of communication with parents and students alike and with the community. And engaging in service funding projects throughout the year. She's incredibly, Susan is incredibly student-centered. Meaning she cares deeply about each and every one of you. She's well versed in early childhood and English language learning best practices. Susan effortfully creates an inclusive classroom, especially for students that need her the most. So the 2016 teacher of the year will get to travel across the state of Vermont, working with teachers, with my agency of education, with the secretary, with the state board, with so many folks across Vermont who are committed to making Vermont's education system the best in the country. In addition, as I mentioned, she gets to go, she's Vermont's candidate, for the National Teacher of the Year Award, sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers. This spring she'll travel to Washington D.C. for a reception with President Obama at the White House, where she'll meet the President and tell him how great each and every one of you are here at Union and across the state of Vermont. So it's a real honor and privilege to be able to award Susan Cope this award, 2016 Teacher of the Year for Vermont, Teacher of the Country. She's doing a great job. Thank you, Susan Cope. Thank you very much, Governor Shumlin. It is truly an honor to stand here with all of you to celebrate education in Vermont. I would like to extend gratitude to Secretary Holcomb and the State Board of Education for being in Montpelier today, and striving to ensure the best educational opportunities for all learners in Vermont. I also feel appreciation toward the former teachers and principals of the year who have made this process challenging and insightful. Thank you also to Rebecca Pune, coordinator of the State Teacher of the Year program. I'm excited to join such a distinguished group of educators who represent the best the state has to offer. I feel humbled to represent teachers from Vermont who come to work each day in schools like Union Elementary School to challenge, inspire, and motivate students to reach their best potential. Both Ms. Mahar and Mr. Rand exemplify this degree of excellence in teaching. I feel privileged to be honored here today with them. I'm proud to represent the teachers of Montpelier Public Schools and the teachers of Vermont. We are excited, enthusiastic, imperfect, and compassionate professionals. We are learners, explorers, and adventurers. Our profession is exciting, dynamic, and fluid. I feel so fortunate to be in this profession which allows collaboration on a daily basis. I'm grateful to work here at Union School with the faculty and staff dedicated to exploring the best and most engaging opportunities for our learners. Throughout my career, I have enjoyed colleagues who have worked together to develop engaging lessons, both indoors and out, in order to help students reach their best potential. I have had the privilege to learn from a myriad of educators as we study, learn, and practice our art together. Today, I ask each one of you to think about a teacher that has had an impact on you. Someone who has inspired you, challenged you, and maybe even pushed you to become your best self. Let's take ten seconds to just think about that teacher. Let's be quiet for just ten seconds and think about a teacher who had an impact on our lives. I'll keep the time. Some of you may have been thinking about your teachers right here in this room. Some of you may have recalled a person who showed you love or trust or encouraged you to pursue a passion. Some of you may have remembered a teacher that is no longer here. I imagine you all felt a sense of belonging as you recalled an impactful teacher in your life. Your teacher created a safe space for you to learn. Your teacher most likely created a community of learners. Your teacher may have encouraged you to learn together and may have even helped you to create habits of learning. Your teacher struck a spark within you that ignited your passion. My goal as a teacher has been to ignite that passion in learners and to see that passion shine brightly. I strive to guide students on a path of self-discovery as they create meaning and make connections. I encourage students to use a variety of strategies to discover and inquire about the world around them. Connecting with nature and their community allows learners to develop a sense of place. As I was thinking about the factors that contributed to being in front of you here today, I realized that it would be challenging to thank each and every person who's had an impact on my career. So many of you have inspired, influenced, supported me, and prepared me for this profession. I extend heartfelt thanks to all whose paths I have crossed. Thank you for your dedication to students and learning. I would like to thank my parents who are here today. My mom's wisest teaching advice was to make sure to show extra kindness to those who are extra difficult. I have carried these words with me since my first year of teaching. My dad instilled the love of inquiry as a tool for learning, keeping learning fun and exciting as we strive to develop and answer questions. I've also carried this sense of wonder with me throughout my career. I would also like to thank my immediate family, Barry, Hannah, and Amy. This amazing trio has continually supported me. They know about the crazy late August setup weeks, Sunday night lesson planning, and report hard weekend. They understand the frustrations and joys of classroom life. They cook, they listen, and they support me so I can support my students. I extend my heartfelt thanks. Most of all, I would like to thank the students. It is because of you that we are here. It is because of you that we smile, we lose sleep, we laugh, and we sometimes pull our hair. You inspire us. You are the future. As Helen Keller said, alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much. I accept this honor together with the teachers at Union School and all the teachers of Vermont. Together we can do so much. Each and every school year, on the first and the last days of school, I sing a song with my students. Please join us now as we sing together the more we get together. Together, together, the more we get together, the happier we'll be. Those more friends are my friends and my friends are your friends. The more we get together, the happier we'll be. Musicians, Susan Pickett, in collaboration with Emily Franklin, it will be sung by the four of the five first grade classes in honor of Susan Cope and her students. You couldn't steal your own students because then you know that she's coming. So. Do you want to hear? Musicians, Susan Pickett, in collaboration with Emily Franklin, it will be sung by the four of the five first grade classes in honor of Susan Cope and her students. Please join us now as we sing together the more we get together. Together, together, the more we get together, the happier we'll be. Musicians, Susan Pickett, in collaboration with Emily Franklin, it will be sung by the four of the five first grade classes in honor of Susan Cope and her students. Please join us now as we sing together the more we get together. Together, together, the more we get together, the happier we'll be. Musicians, Susan Pickett, in collaboration with Emily Franklin, it will be sung by the four of the five first grade classes in honor of Susan Cope and her students. Please join us now as we sing together the more we get together. Together, together, the more we get together, the happier we'll be. Musicians, Susan Pickett, in collaboration with Emily Franklin, it will be sung by the four of the five first grade classes in honor of Susan Cope and her students. Please join us now as we sing together the more we get together. Thanks again for our great thanks Cheers. Friends, Erica, Amanda, Anna and Molly please come up. Susan, we need a surprise work of art for you. First graders who help to make this art inspired by Brangoli from India, please make the sign a peace and raise your hand. Thank you for making our school and our world a brighter and more peaceful place. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Susan, I don't think that will fit on your carry-on bag when you go to DC to represent us, but um. Maybe I'll take a photo. Know that we're incredibly proud to have you go and represent our core of our values and commitments as you represent us on the national stage. It's such a privilege. Thank you all. I want to thank the students, you've been a fabulous audience and it's been wonderful to join you today. Let's give a round of applause to your tremendous teachers' wise words. Please go and take care of yourselves, take care of your friends, and take care of your communities, and take that with you today. Thank you very much.