Kathleen Spears, Biology teacher, won the Tallwood High Teacher of the Year on Monday, October 24, 2022.

Mrs. Spears has worked at Tallwood for nine years out of her eighteen years of working in the education field. This is not the first time she has been the Teacher of the Year (TOY). At her past school, Independence Middle, she was also voted TOY. However, despite gaining this recognition once before, Mrs. Spears was still stunned.

“Shocked, speechless, flabbergasted. There are so many good teachers at Tallwood I never, really never thought it would be me,” said Mrs. Spears.

Being able to connect with students and having an intense passion for her subject are factors that caused Mrs. Spears to earn Teacher of the Year. She is always trying to improve her relationship with students by constantly trying to find more interesting, more current, and more relevant things for her students.

“I understand what she teaches, and she teaches in a way that I can remember,” said Kacey Moulton, a Tallwood High School student in Mrs. Spears’s Biology class.

While Mrs. Spears was elected Teacher of the Year, there were other teachers nominated for the position. Fellow Tallwood teachers Earl DeMott, Lindsey Clouser, and Krystal Kelly were all chosen to be Distinguished Educators.

“I am heavily involved in this school. I put students first, I value differences, I am open-minded,” stated Lindsey Clouser, a Tallwood Distinguished Educator. Not only does Mrs. Clouser has all these qualities, these same attributes are present in all the distinguished educators, especially Mrs. Spears.