The Teacher of the Year was just selected, which made me both jealous and nostalgic. I was the master of ceremonies at the Lake County awards for many years, a fabulous, glitzy event that was the high point of my year.  

Then I became a teacher and wasn’t invited anymore.  

And that reminds me of the only good thing about daylight saving time – it helped show me what’s wrong with the Teacher of the Year selection process. After the clock sprung forward, I arrived at school before sun-up. Some things are easier to see in the dark, like the dome light of what was usually the only other teacher’s car in the parking lot at 7 a.m. 

I was early, but Sally was already there. Every day. 

There might be other teachers on some mornings, but they came and went depending on special circumstances, meetings and such. Sally and I were the only two who were out there waiting for the doors to open as regular as clockwork. 

We had other things in common. For one, neither of us was ever Teacher of the Year.  

So what? Most teachers don’t win and being an early riser is hardly a qualification. But there is another common factor to consider. We were both High Impact Teacher award winners, meaning that we were among the top few percent of teachers in the state, based on success of students. 

Furthermore, we were the only ones at the school to win that award. So, the two teachers who are there early are the only two teachers to win an award for student achievement. You might think that would be enough to win us some votes for Teacher of the Year.  

But the flaw in that logic is as easy to see as a dome light before sun-up. If we were the only two voters out there at 7 a.m., who were we going to impress? I also stayed late, which went equally unnoticed by teachers who didn’t. 

Oh well. What really matters is what goes on in the classroom – and there is the real problem. There were even fewer fellow teachers in my classroom when I was teaching than there were out in the parking lot before daylight. In other words, none. Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that I was as good a teacher as I thought I was.  

How would anybody know? 

Based on what I observed about other teachers that other teachers might observe about me, the vote would be based on how straight I could get my kids lined up and how well I walked down the hall with them. What else was there? Recess? Staff meetings? Posture? 

I obviously never figured it out because I never came close to winning and I desperately wanted to be Teacher of the Year. I craved the adulation of the crowd, the admiration of colleagues, teary-eyed testimonials from grateful principals, official handshakes, fine words and fabulous prizes. 

Not Sally.  She cared so little about Teacher of the Year that she didn’t even vote. She wasn’t out there early to try to impress anybody, either, she was there to get her job done. You don’t get invited to galas for doing that. 

I’m not saying that the people who win those awards are not worthy – just that they’re not the only ones. It is well and good that the superintendent and all the swells spend a festive evening toasting those in the spotlight.  

But it’d be nice if somebody noticed the ones standing in the dark waiting for the doors to open.