Grade 3, Multiple Subjects

Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary School, Indio
Desert Sands Unified School District, Riverside County

Allison Cyr describes herself by saying, "I am not only a teacher, but a custodian, counselor, mailman, disc jockey (DJ), lawyer, banker, cook, and more, but the catch is that I play all those roles within the first twenty minutes of my day, and I would not trade any of them for anything."

Every single day in Allison's class begins with a greeting that includes telling her students that they are loved. High expectations for each student's success in the safe space of her classroom are paramount. Although the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation has changed her classroom "space," Allison knows that learning continues because she and her students are a team, ready each day to take on whatever challenges come their way. Ms. Cyr's belief that teachers are "life givers" was put to the test when, at the age of 20 she gave one of her beloved high school teachers a kidney. "To deny life to a teacher so committed to helping students finish school wasn't a choice for me," she explains. During her student teaching, she created a nonprofit known as "Twenty4Change, $20 or 20 minutes to change a life." She continues this program so that her students learn to be "doers" and have the courage to take care of those they may have never met. And, sometimes, it means taking care of each other as well.

At the core of Allison's classroom is a dedication to reading instruction, but also to reading for comprehension and pleasure. She is committed to differentiating instruction, taking each child from where he or she is, to the next step. She wants to be the "teacher who teacher literacy" and shares Frederick Douglass' quote that, "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

Allison asks, "Who would you be today if it weren't for that person who believed you could do anything you set your mind to achieve?" This tenacious, creative, caring teacher practices what she preaches, and her students experience her caring every day and know that she will always be their advocate, coach, and support person.