wo honorees of this year’s Fort Bend ISD Teacher of the Year award; two different tales.
LeAnne Parker, named as Fort Bend ISD’s Elementary Teacher of the Year, is a 26-year educator and a speech pathologist
at Pecan Grove Elementary.
The 2009 Secondary Teacher of the Year, Willie Yarber, has taught a unique
program for five of the nine years he
’s been at Elkins High School. He is the school’s coordinator for Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID), as well as
girls
’ head basketball coach and girls’ assistant track coach. Yarber has 15 years of teaching experience.
Although these two talented educators have different backgrounds and teaching
expertise, they share a fierce dedication and passion for teaching as wekk as
modesty. Neither one of them in their wildest dreams expected to win Teacher of
the Year titles.
Competing against more than 40 Elementary Teacher of the Year school
representatives, Parker felt honored when she learned she was chosen as one of
the district
’s five finalists. But when the invitation came for the awards dinner, she wasn’t confident enough to have her husband, Keith, cancel an out-of-town business
trip so he could accompany her.
“When he asked me about cancelling his trip so he could go with me to the awards
dinner, I told him,
‘no way.’ I thought there was no way I was going to win,” said Parker.
Her oldest son, Brett, 22, also asked to be by her side. Even though he was in
the middle of finals week at University of Mary Hardin - Baylor, he wanted to
drive from Belton for the dinner and then drive back for his final the next
morning.
Like she told her husband, she also told her son, no way. She didn’t think it was necessary for Brett to change his plans either. So, her middle
son, Tyler, 21, escorted her to the event. And her youngest son, Conner, 14,
was just happy to get a pass to stay home.
When the Teacher of the Year recipient was announced, Tyler had to reassure his
mother that her name was indeed called as the winner. At first she just sat
stunned.
“Mom, that’s you,” Tyler said as he was nudging his mom.
Winning the district Elementary Teacher of the Year award that night caused a
light-hearted uproar in the Parker household. As soon as her name was called,
Tyler was on his cell phone with his dad saying,
“Mom just won, you’re in so much trouble.”
Although he was excited for her, Brett was disappointed he was not at the
dinner. After the event he said to his mom by phone,
“I told you I needed to be there because you were going to win. See, I told you
so.
”
And now, Parker has moved up the competition ladder and was named one of five
finalists representing their school district in the Region 4 competition. The
Region 4 winner will move on to compete for the state title.
Region 4 is the largest Texas educational service center, providing services to
54 school districts representing over 1 million students and more than 83,000
professional educators. The region services seven counties in the greater
Houston area.
Yarber’s path to the title almost didn’t happen. When he was first nominated at Elkins, his assistant principal asked
if he was interested and his reply was,
“Let me think about it.”
While it might seem like an odd answer at first, it actually was a noble one.
Subscribing to the philosophy that when you take on a project, you do it with
the intention of doing it
“right,” he knew he had a crazy, busy schedule already, and the process for the contest
was detailed and time consuming. There were questionnaires to fill out, essays
to write, biographies to produce and philosophies to explain. On top of that, a
selection committee holds a live interview.
Yarber has a wife, three daughters, two coaching positions and
a teaching career that requires many out of the classroom hours. His calendar
was stretched. But he decided that it was such an honor his school thought so
highly of him and he didn
’t want to seem unappreciative, so he made time.
He really didn’t expect to be the Elkins representative, let alone the district winner.
“I’m a calm and mild-mannered person, so when my name was called at the awards
dinner, I may have looked cool on the outside, but I was so excited. It was
truly an honor,
” said Yarber, who was accompanied by his wife, Chandra, who is a registrar in a
private school, and his mother-in-law, Rose Vallie, a retired Sharpstown High
School nurse of 36 years.
Yarber didn’t start college with the idea of being a teacher even though his high school
basketball coach always said he would be a teacher and coach someday. He wanted
to be a sports writer.
“Teaching chose me,” he said.
The turning point happened during the summer after his freshman year. Yarber
worked as a counselor at an at-risk youth camp and realized it was an amazing
experience. Right away he recognized the rapport he had with kids.
The following semester he changed his major from communications to education and
never looked back.
Parker’s path to teaching started a little earlier in her life. The defining event
occurred when she was in fourth grade and her younger sister entered first
grade. Her sister struggled that year because of misdiagnosed learning
difficulties. Her entire family was affected.
Her goal since then has been to save other families from such an experience by
properly identifying children with learning differences, and to offer support
to the parents and teachers.
She is inspired by the words of Charles Schulz, creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip, who said, “The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most
credentials, the most money or the most awards. They are simply the ones who
care the most.
”
Her greatest accomplishments in education are found in working with her
students, their families and the teachers she supports. Parker hopes to be
remembered as one of the ones who
cared the most.
As the AVID coordinator at his school, Yarber helps academic, middle-of-the-road
students get college ready.
“Because the rewards are not immediate, it requires a lot of patience,” he said. “But I have daily reminders. Something happens every day that tells me to come
back and do it again tomorrow. As far as I
’m concerned (about his own future), the grass is not greener anywhere else.”
