A CIESC Member District Teacher Among Indiana’s Top Three
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The KINL team has worked with Amanda since she first began building a thinking classroom. Below, in their own words, is why her recognition came as no surprise to the Keep Indiana Learning team.
Central Indiana Educational Service Center has supported Indiana schools since 1990, and the work that matters most happens through direct, sustained relationships with educators in our member districts. Keep Indiana Learning, our professional learning network, is where many of those relationships live.
Amanda Ray teaches fifth grade math and social studies at Custer Baker Intermediate School in Franklin Community Schools, a CIESC member district. This year she was named her school’s and her district’s Teacher of the Year, and she is one of three finalists for Indiana Teacher of the Year. The KINL team has worked with Amanda since she first began building a thinking classroom. Below, in their own words, is why her recognition came as no surprise to the Keep Indiana Learning team.
At Keep Indiana Learning we work with amazing teachers all across the state. We visit classrooms from Kindergarten to high school and are fortunate to be witness to innovation and best practice up close. We’ve experienced first hand the power of good teaching and the impact a great teacher can have on their students and their school. A few times, we’ve seen teachers that are able to transcend the walls of their building to reach a larger educational community. Amanda Ray is one such teacher.
Amanda teaches 5th grade for Custer Baker Intermediate School at Franklin Community Schools in Franklin, Indiana. She teaches Math and Social Studies. We met Amanda a few years ago when she started working on building a thinking classroom using the strategies from Peter Liljedahl’s, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics. From the first time we met her we knew she was a great teacher, if for no other reasons than her curiosity and thirst for improvement.
Amanda is the quintessential cycle of improvement. Try something – evaluate – adjust – try something – evaluate – adjust. She is never satisfied with the status quo or with ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it.’ Her need to constantly and consistently get better at what she does sets her apart from many good teachers and puts her in an elite group of outstanding teachers. This group not only strives to improve the education of their students, they go above and beyond to impact their school environment and their profession in positive ways.
A thinking classroom has become a trajectory changer for Amanda over the last few years. Her classroom runs like a well oiled machine and her students flourish and blossom under her care each year. For many teachers, that would have been enough. It’s certainly not easy to create such a collaborative and welcoming learning environment. Amanda, however, couldn’t stop there. Her abundance mentality dictates that when you find something that works, you share it far and wide. That’s just what she’s done.
First, she learned all she could about the strategies by going to workshops, reading, watching videos, and practicing. As she got better, she shared her learning with colleagues in her building and around her district. She invited visitors from her district and others across the state to come and see what was happening in her classroom. She collaborated with us on a video we used to help other teachers learn about thinking classrooms. She began presenting at local and state conferences on the subject.
Amanda was instrumental in helping to create the first Building Thinking Classrooms National Conference which her district hosted in 2023. She has been presenting to an international audience, sharing her experience and expertise, ever since, and it has not gone unnoticed.
This year Amanda was named her school’s Teacher of the Year, her district’s Teacher of the Year, and as of this writing is one of the top 3 finalists for Indiana’s Teacher of the Year. The staff at Keep Indiana Learning could not be more proud of her work and her accomplishments. We’ve enjoyed collaborating with her and helping her along the way, but it is her drive and determination to be the best for her students that we celebrate today. No matter where her journey ends this year, she will always be a gold medal teacher in our hearts.