 Teachers deserve our utmost gratitude for all that they do every day to improve the future of our students. Every year we honor outstanding educators for instructional excellence and advocacy for the teaching profession with the NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence. Guided by a distinguished national panel we selected five educators from a pool of state nominees for this prestigious national award. Listen to what they have to say about their experience. Learn how students benefit from the program and prepare to be inspired. This recognition shines a light on me but it also shines a light on my students, my school, my entire community. When parents send their kids to school they want a teacher to walk into that classroom ready for any eventuality. They want a teacher who knows his stuff and they want a teacher who knows what he believes about children and learning and this the NEA Foundation application forces you to think about what you believe. It made me step back and reflect about what I think about learning. It made me justify my practices. This application process was flipped my world. It really did. It was very vigorous and the personal growth that I've experienced from this alone is something that I'll never forget. I used to be afraid of doing small presentations and I don't think that's gonna happen anymore because I don't think anything else will compare to this process. Rarely have I stopped to think about how I advocate for the profession, how I encourage diversity and critical thinking in the classroom. These are just things that I attempt to do from the ways that I've been trained, from the ways I was educated and raised. Those things are part of who I am but rarely have I stopped to think about and articulate what I do and why it matters. So that's been really crucial for my personal development as an educator and as a member of a union. Indeed it was a heartfelt process. It gave me a sense of pride in public education. I will continue to strive for excellence because of this process. The awards for teaching excellence help to advance the profession because it sends a strong and powerful message that education is alive and well in the United States. It celebrates public school teachers. It encourages them to step out of the box, to become innovative, to become leaders in their schools and in their states. I know my state association is very proud of me. I've been a member since I was, you know, 19 years old and so it would benefit them as much as me simply because it shows the strength that unity can have and also shows the strength of what someone can do when influenced by an educator's association such as ours. I'll be able to network with other teachers and I can tell you from experience when passionate teachers get together, students benefit. California Casualty, Horace Mann and any A member benefit saw a need for valuable recognition. They see the hope and promise of public education. We believe that all children can learn and awards such as this provide positive incentives to encourage teachers to give their very best every day. Any person that has the opportunity to go through this will be enriched forever and so I appreciate the opportunity to have gone through it. I think the most important thing about the NEA Foundation Awards for Teaching Excellence is definitely the opportunity to reflect on who I am as a professional, who I've become as a professional and where I want to go