Roy Clark Elementary Teacher of the Year

Prompt:

\"Roy Clark Elementary - Rebecca King, 2nd Grade/5th Grade Second grade teacher Rebecca King has been named Roy Clark Elementary Teacher of the Year for 2019-2020. She has been with Union since 2015. (She started the year as a fifth grade teacher but took over a second grade class as enrollment numbers changed at Roy Clark.) \"\"Growing up I knew I wanted to be a teacher,\"\" King said. \"\"When my teachers cleaned out their files at the end of each school year, I always jumped in to take their extra copies home. I often played school with my stuffed animals. In elementary school, the special education students were in their own classrooms in our building. In 5th grade, as a safety patrol, we could volunteer to spend our recess time with these students. I always enjoyed working in these classrooms. In high school, I changed my mind and thought I wanted to be a speech pathologist. While I was working on my master's degree, I missed the classroom and always had ideas geared for teaching a class. I changed my degree plan and was much happier. Nineteen years later, I still enjoy seeing what children can do.: King's favorite subject to teach is math. \"\"I love math because there are so many different ways to get to a solution. Over the years I have heard many students – and their parents – say \"\"They are not good at math and that's OK because some people just aren't.\"\" I want to change the mindset from it is ok to not be good at math to the mindset of everyone can be good at math<\"\" she said. \"\"I believe that everyone can be successful when they are exposed to a variety of strategies and positive messages. Someone once said, 'To be a math person, you just have to be a person and do math'.\"\" King's education background includes: • Bachelors of Science – Speech Pathology – Oklahoma State University (1996) • Early Childhood and Elementary Teacher Certification - Texas Woman's University (1999) ESL Certification (2019) • Currently Working on Masters in Teaching, Learning and Leadership with an emphasis in Mathematics Education (Plant to graduate summer 2019) Oklahoma State University\