Wythe Co. names teacher of the year

By Nate Hubbard
The Wytheville Enterprise
Published: May 27, 2008

If you happen to be driving by Spiller Elementary School around suppertime and wonder what that lone car could possibly still be doing in the parking lot, wonder no more.

There’s a good chance it belongs to Diane Allen – the newly-minted Wythe County Teacher of the Year.

Allen, who first began her Wythe County teaching career in 1973, found out about the honor last week.

“I was surprised, as anyone would be,” she said during an interview in her first-grade classroom Friday afternoon.

Teachers from each school in the county selected a teacher of the year for their respective school. Nominations for the school-level winning teachers were then sent on to the chamber of commerce to be considered for the countywide honor.

Allen will be recognized with a plaque at the 2008-09 school year kick-off in August and she will also be able to attend the chamber of commerce’s Leadership Development Institute in the fall for free.

In a letter recommending Allen for the award, Spiller Principal Kimberly Ingo highlighted Allen’s commitment to her job.

“When you look at the definition for dedicated, you will find Mrs. Allen’s name,” Ingo wrote. “Words cannot express the level of professionalism, teamwork, loyalty and passion that Mrs. Allen demonstrates daily with her students, colleagues and friends.”

Although Allen said her fellow teachers at Spiller were more excited to hear that she won the award than she was, she acknowledged that she does take pride in the preparation she puts in each evening for the next day’s lessons.

In addition to working at school for three to four hours after her children leave, Allen regularly serves as a reading tutor and has taught summer school for a number of years.

She also said a lot of her time at home is spent on tasks that help make her classroom run smoothly.

“It’s not uncommon for me to stay up until or one or two on Friday night grading papers or doing report cards or writing comments to parents or notes, I write notes to parents fairly frequently, positive notes, praise notes,” she said.

Although Allen started out her career at Spiller teaching second- and third-grade, she has found her niche with first-graders.

After initially teaching in the county for four years, Allen taught in other counties for a few years and took time off from teaching in order to raise her own children. She returned to Spiller 14 years ago and has been teaching first-grade ever since.

First-grade is generally a pivotal year in teaching students to read, and Allen said it’s that task that motivates her each day.

“I like the challenge of teaching children to read,” she said. “It’s a challenge to me, and I like that. I feel that if a child is able to read by the end of first-grade and read well, then I feel like they are really prepared for what lies ahead.”

Allen, who mostly grew up in the Blacksburg area, has a number of creative ways she helps students reach their reading goals.

Ingo said Allen’s students usually are easy to spot in the school halls because they often are wearing a word like a nametag around their necks.

On Friday afternoon, a chain that Allen’s class started just in March, with each link representing a book one of her students read, stretched around the whole room.

After her students advance to basic books, they take comprehension computer tests after they complete each book. This year, Allen said her 25 students have combined to take more than 2,500 book quizzes.

“Most of them are reading chapter books by the end of the year,” she said about her pupils. “It’s really exciting to see how they change.”

Students in Allen’s class are expected to work just as hard as their teacher does. The first-graders are required to read at home each evening and turn in a reading diary each week.

“Her never quit attitude is instilled in her students and their success is measured for years to come,” Ingo wrote.

Allen said she tries to individually challenge her students, spending her after-class working time reviewing each student’s reading progress and selecting books to push each student to a higher reading level.

She also said a big part of her job is to be a cheerleader for the benefits of reading, citing the importance of praise and encouragement.

“That’s my goal, for children to love reading by the time they get out of here,” Allen said. “A lot of it’s not just teaching them to read, it’s the enthusiasm, the fun of reading, to have the joy of reading. Because once you get them interested and they’ll read on their own, to me the battle’s been won.”

While her dedication to her teaching job doesn’t leave her with a lot of leisure time, Allen said she enjoys reading herself when she gets the chance.

She also said she’s an active member of First Baptist Church in Hillsville where, in addition to singing in the choir and attending Bible studies, she gets to share her teaching talents through Vacation Bible School most summers.

Back in Wythe County, Allen also sings in a community choir near her home in the Fort Chiswell area and participates in a widow’s group.

Allen said she’s often the go-to person among her peers at school when they have a private prayer request or need some advice in dealing with a tough situation.

Ingo also added a personal story to her recommendation letter, saying that Allen helped her daughter through a difficult time when she was a student in Allen’s class a few years ago.

“I personally will not forget her kindness,” Ingo wrote. “Often my daughter will talk about Mrs. Allen and the things she did for her.”

Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .