Deerfield School employees applaud Tuesday as Anne Tormohlen, center, the school’s library media specialist, is named as the winner of the 2010-11 Lawrence Elementary Teacher of the Year award.
Anne Tormohlen embraces having “the best job in the building” at Deerfield School.
“I get to work with everybody,” the school’s library media specialist said. “I do. I know all 528 kids. I’ve known most of them since kindergarten, and it’s fun. That’s the best part.”
On Tuesday, Tormohlen learned she also is among the best educators in the Lawrence school district, as winner of the 2010-11 Lawrence Elementary Teacher of the Year award.
The honor arrived after school, when a crowd of administrators, friends, colleagues and others filed into a staff meeting to see her smile, deflect praise and collect a $1,000 check from program sponsor KU Credit Union. Soon, someone will take her photo, for display at district headquarters.
“I’m mortified by that,” she said, mortified by the idea that her mortification would be shared in the newspaper.
Tormohlen is in her 20th year at the school, 101 Lawrence Ave., where she’s been library specialist for the past nine years and has taught fifth and sixth grades during the previous 11. Before that, she’d taught for three years at the former Riverside School.
Deerfield teachers and staffers nominated Tormohlen for the honor, citing her use of “standards-based” lessons that allow for “perfect” transitions into future classroom work, providing an appropriate and welcome lightening of teachers’ collective classroom loads.
“She is not the only backbone of support for our children and their literary needs, but shows true compassion for each individual child,” her colleagues said, in their nomination letter. “We pride ourselves on reading achievement at Deerfield, and we would not be able to excel and reach our goals without Anne in our library.”
Rick Doll, district superintendent, lauded Tormohlen for her work with all teachers and all students.
“It’s obvious that we made the right call,” he said.
The district now will nominate Tormohlen for Kansas Teacher of the Year, a program of the Kansas State Department of Education.
The district also plans to honor a 2010-11 Lawrence Secondary Teacher of the Year later this year.
Comments
livinginlawrence 3 years, 1 month ago
skyking62 said: "I'm not comfortable with a non classroom teacher receiving the Teacher of the Year award...period. "
I know you probably intended for this statement to be definitive in some way, but I'd be interested if you'd be willing to elaborate on the feelings you've put forth here. How exactly does the idea make you uncomfortable? Just curious.
In the interest of full disclosure, I'll admit that to me it seems as though you may be getting a bit hung up on wording. Be it as it may that the peculiarities of her job title and how it relates to the name of the award for you dredge up bitter memories, the evidence suggests that Tormohlen has earned a lot of respect and admiration in this community as a teacher (or educator, or pedagogue, or instructor- whatever makes you "comfortable").
fanaddict 3 years, 2 months ago
Way to go Anne!!! You are amazing!!
3 years, 2 months ago
She IS a teacher, she teaches more than some of the teachers...
cammieb 3 years, 2 months ago
Congratulations, Anne!
Gary Anderson 3 years, 2 months ago
No disrespect intended...but shouldn't a teacher have won the award? According to the article she hasn't been a classroom teacher in almost a decade...I'm sure she is a wonderful library specialist...but to receive the Elementary Teacher of the Year award seems odd. Again, no disrespect to Anne Tormohlen is intended or implied.
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