Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Advises NSU Graduates

TAHLEQUAH Teachers should work to have a positive impact on their students and take the time to listen to them, Oklahomas 2007 Teacher of the Year Linda Hasler-Reid told a group of graduating Northeastern State University education students at a forum on Tuesday, Dec. 12.

You will have an impact on your students every single day, said Hasler-Reid, a Spanish teacher at Muskogee Seventh and Eighth Grade Center. It is up to you whether that impact is positive or negative.

The problems that students come to their teachers with will be both great and small, but the most important thing a teacher can do is listen.

You will have students come to you with problems that are greater than us, said Hasler-Reid. Listen to them and talk to them. It might be the only kind word that child hears that day.

A 1994 graduate of NSU, Hasler-Reid commended the graduates on earning their degrees and putting in time and effort for a worthwhile career.

Northeastern is the premier teaching university in Oklahoma, so you made a good choice, said Hasler-Reid. Teaching is a very personal career, your dedication is critical. But you're doing the greatest and best work in the world.

A third-generation educator, Hasler-Reid didn't grow up wanting to be a teacher. I wanted to be something glamorous, she said. She married her husband, Michael Reid at age 18, and was a mother of four by age 26. It wasn't until she starting looking for a quality kindergarten teacher for her oldest daughter that Hasler-Reid realized how important educators are for children.

Hasler-Reid enrolled at NSU as a non-traditional student, taking classes to fit her schedule, eventually graduating summa cum laude with a bachelors degree in English education with a minor in Spanish.

My point is that your beginnings do not dictate your future, said Hasler-Reid. Non-traditional or traditional, you can still make a difference.

Hasler-Reid also told the graduates that even though their formal education may be over, they must always continue learning, whether through local professional development opportunities or through national and international programs available to teachers.

You have to keep learning and model learning for our students, she said. There are numerous opportunities available for teachers. I spent the summer touring Costa Rica through one of these programs.

But the most important thing Hasler-Reid told the future educators is to remain passionate about teaching.

If a teachers not passionate about teaching, its difficult for students to remain passionate about what they're learning, Hasler-Reid said. If you're not excited, your students wont be either. I genuinely get up every morning excited to go to school. I love my kids and I love my work.