Knowing students earns S-E-M teacher state, national teaching awards – Kearney Hub
Sumner-Eddyville-Miller fourth-grade teacher Laurie Smith gives her class an impromptu “quiz” about her. It’s a way for her students to get to know her and to build relationships, she said.
SUMNER — Kids in Laurie Smith’s fourth-grade class at Sumner-Eddyville-Miller are more than just students to her.
“Just having that mind shift that they are not a kid behind a desk. They are not a kid that needs to learn how to read. They are a little person,” Smith explained.
Smith strives each day to not only get to know her students but for them to get to know her, too. Each morning the class has what she calls “Today’s Talk.”
Smith asks a simple question, such as what is their favorite food or holiday. Smith and her paraprofessional also answer the questions.
When spaghetti is on the menu for the school lunch, the students know that Smith doesn’t like it.
“They know that. I’m not just the teacher that’s making you learn to read. They are more important to me than anything,” Smith said.
Smith recently was recognized as the 2021-22 Teacher of the Year by the National Rural Education Association. This spring she was named the Nebraska Teacher of the Year by the Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association during the Annual State Convention in Kearney. She is the first Nebraska teacher to have been chosen by the NREA, and she will represent Nebraska at the national convention in November at Indianapolis.
Smith was inspired to become a teacher by her aunt Cindy Castillo, who taught at Kearney Public Schools.
“My aunt always went that extra mile for kids. Seeing what she did to change those kids lives, not academically but what she did for them as a person. I just saw that, and I was like, ‘I want that. I want to be able to do that,’” said Smith.
Smith attended school at University of Nebraska at Kearney, and she taught elementary school in Oshkosh and Chappell before returning to her hometown of Sumner. Smith has been teaching for 25 years and has been with the fourth grade for the past 14 years.
“I love that they are independent learners, but they are still little. You still see those light-bulb moments of “Oh, I get it!” I love that about that age,” she said.
Smith was shocked when she found out she won the national award, but she was more excited for her school than herself.
“Some of the other national winners are from rural schools, and their rural schools are like 2,000 people in their school. And I’m like, ‘Oh no we are 200 people pre-K-12. We are all in the same building. We have kids that travel probably 30 miles a day to get to school,’” she said. “I’m excited that people are talking about our school. I want people to see and meet the other great people because we are a great team.”
Smiths’ family, including her husband, Todd, and their three children, will attend the national convention in November at Indianapolis. Smith will be one of the keynote speakers at a general session.
For her, the little things make the hard work worth it, she said.
“Even this morning I was working with a student that just struggles. I just kept saying, ‘I’m not giving up on you. I’m here, and we are going to do this and we are on a team. … This kid just looked at me and said, ‘I know you care about me. I know you do. We are going to do this, Mrs. Smith.’ … That beats the hard work we have to do to get to that point,” she said.
ashley.bebensee@kearneyhub.com
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Sumner-Eddyville-Miller fourth-grade teacher Laurie Smith gives her class an impromptu “quiz” about her. It’s a way for her students to get to know her and to build relationships, she said.
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