Eugene Teacher Who Connects with Every Pupil Is Oregon's Teacher of the Year

Eugene teacher who connects with every pupil is Oregon's Teacher of the Year

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

October 27, 2009, 7:21PM

Brent Wojahn/The Oregonian Eugene elementary school teacher Donna DuBois is congratulated by her nephew, Zachary Vega, 5, and her daughter, Kaitlynn DuBois, 12, after she was presented with the Oregon Teacher of the Year award at a surprise assembly at Camas Ridge Community School Tuesday.
Donna DuBois was a high school senior, planning a career as a computer systems analyst, when she got a chance to help a preschool across the street from the school.
The lesson for the day was simple arithmetic, but the children weren't catching on. DuBois instinctively knelt near one girl and had her hold up one finger, then another. "One and one," she said grasping each finger separately, "and now you have two." The girl's face lit up as she said, "I get it!"
"That," recalls DuBois, "was a defining moment of my life when I knew what I was going to do."
The thrill that comes from connecting with children, then getting them to master a new concept still provides the juice that drives the red-headed fourth-grade teacher at Eugene's Camas Ridge Community School, named Tuesday as Oregon's Teacher of the Year.
DuBois (pronounced the French way, doo-bwa), an elementary school teacher for the past 11 years, was chosen for her exceptional ability to connect both with children and with fellow teachers.
She is a master at getting students of all abilities to stretch themselves, says Yvonne Curtis, new superintendent in Forest Grove who supervised DuBois in Eugene.
"Her students love her. She is so patient and kind. She gets kids to do (academically challenging) things for her without them realizing how far they're pushing," says Wally Bryant, principal of Camas Ridge.
Similarly, she has a gentle, respectful way with fellow teachers, Bryant says. She helps other teachers become better not by coming at them as an all-knowing smarty pants but by asking them questions, valuing their strengths and leading by example as a can-do, early-adopter of new ideas, he says.
DuBois says her approach to teaching is simple.
"The first key for me, is starting always, always, always with the relationship between the child and myself, and the family," she says.
"Once that trust is in place, it becomes much less difficult to meet a child where they are. They trust you enough to tell you what their interests are. They trust you enough to read to you when it's hard to read.
"In my class, there are all kinds of rules and expectations, but it all boils down to two words: be kind. ... The teacher needs to be kind to the students. The students need to be kind to each other. And kids have to be kind to themselves."
She believes it is important for students, even in the early grades, to take responsibility for their own learning.
"They all want to bring their work to me. 'What you you think? What do you think?' Well, I want to know, what do they think?"
Her path to teaching was not what she expected. She married her high school sweetheart straight out of high school. His Air Force career took them to England, then Florida, then Utah. She raised their three children, squeezing in college as she could, finally earning her bachelor's in elementary education from Weber State University in time to become a first-year teacher at age 30.
She returned to her hometown of Eugene and began teaching there in 2000.
The work warms her heart, she says. This week, she says, one boy in her class told her, " 'Miss D, I come to school every day, because I know that if I don't, you're going to miss me'."
In her off time, she likes to paint watercolors, research geneaology, travel and hang out with her children, two of whom are still at home.
Perhaps her greatest success at Camas Ridge came with a student in her third-grade class last year with behavior challenges. It took a long time to build a strong, trusting relationship, but once she did, his learning took off. When she considered whether to switch grade levels for this school year, her rapport with that boy sealed her decision.
She felt she needed to be his teacher again so he could continue on his strong trajectory. And it's working, she says.
"He actually says to me, 'You asked to have me in your class again, didn't you?' That has meant the world to him. He knows we are there together."
- Betsy Hammond