Sidney Teacher Award of Excellence Recipient

If you want to do something well, do what you enjoy. That is an apparent motto of Erin Meyer, 6th grade teacher at West Elementary School in Sidney that has earned her an Award of Excellence from the Nebraska Department of Education.

Meyer is one of four finalists for the Nebraska Teacher of the Year award.

Meyer says education has always been near her. From her days as an elementary school student, she felt drawn toward teaching and leading a class. She recalls as a student asking her teachers for extra homework pages. Those extra pages were part of her "lesson plan" for students at home - the dolls and stuffed animals in her bedroom.

In her application essay, Meyer said she modeled her teaching after the teachers she had as a student.

"From an early age, I imitated my teachers. I idolized them. The relationships that I developed with them became something I cherished each year. They cared about what I did at night and on the weekends. They recognized and acknowledged my strengths, encouraging me to succeed," she said.

She admits in her essay that teaching was part of her since the age of seven. The decision was cemented in high school when deciding her career plans and future education when she decided between being a doctor or a teacher. She recognized both as service occupations, but one required eight more years of education before beginning, compared to a four-year degree to start teaching.

"I always wanted to be a teacher. I never envisioned doing anything else," she says.

She has 15 years experience teaching elementary education. All of her experience is in Sidney. She spent the first 12 years teaching second grade, transferring to sixth grade when her husband became an administrator. It wasn't a move she expected, and she admits it was a move that made her nervous at first.

"I love the littles," she said referring to second grade students.

However, what she may not have expected is seeing students in sixth grade whom she taught in second grade. The experience reinforced why she loves teaching and what has kept her in the profession: the relationships. She said many of the students she worked with continue to come back and visit with her, catch her up on their lives.

"Those relations are real and genuine and deep," she said. "You want to see the kids succeed year after year."

She said the core of her teaching philosophy are two points: relationships and student confidence.

"I cannot expect academic success in my students until I have an established, trusting relationship with them. Relationships are at the core of every academic and social achievement," she said in her essay.

Thursday morning she said the relationships continue because the students know she is their cheerleader.