Jamieson teacher is #1 in the state

Kimberly Kyff, who vowed as a youngster never to become a teacher, has been named Michigan Teacher of the Year for 2006-2007.

One day after receiving the award, the fifth-grade homeroom teacher at Jamieson Elementary School smiled at the memory of the young girl she once was. "My mother was a teacher and my grandmother was a teacher, and I was determined not to be a teacher," she laughed. As it turned out, Kyff went into teaching because nothing else felt quite as right. She has remained in the classroom because "it makes me happy."

Ironically, the Michigan Teacher of the Year Award will remove her from the classroom for a year as she crisscrosses the state and the nation, meeting educators, policy makers, educational stakeholders and politicians, including Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and President George Bush. She will be the face and the voice of Michigan teachers.

"I was truly unprepared for the award," Kyff said during her lunch break at the west side school where she has taught for a decade. Kyff never thought she would even make it through Detroit portion of the competition because "there are so many phenomenal teachers in Detroit. We have more National Board Certified Teachers than any district in the state," she said as she began ticking off a list of prestigious national awards captured by Detroit teachers. "But you only hear about negative things about teachers or students," she said.

During her tenure as Teacher of the Year, Kyff will get a chance to change that image. She can talk from experience. Although Jamieson is located in a low-income neighborhood with a highly transient population, the school regularly exceeds state averages on the MEAP, has earned a Golden Apple award for achievement and won an $85,000 grant from the Skillman Foundation as a 2006 High Performing School.

"I will be able to spread the word about all the good things in the Detroit district," she said. That includes spreading the word about her students, whom she describes as "fabulous" and loaded with potential, imagination, creativity and problem-solving skills.

Kyff is quick to praise her co-workers at Jamieson. "There is not a teacher in this building who does not have high expectations and high demands," she said. "Our children rise to our expectations. The higher we set the bar, the higher they go."
 

Jamieson principal David Harris nominated Kyff for the award because of her commitment to urban education and because "she is always in tune with the best teaching practices. She is always evolving and reorganizing her room. She is willing to try different strategies to reach her students."

She is also a National Board Certified Teacher who mentors other candidates for national certification and still finds time to teach a graduate-level course in curriculum.

In a statement that appeared in the Michigan Department of Education press release about the award, Kyff said:

"The rewards I find in teaching are never-ending. All I need to do is look at the students before me and remember where they were when they first entered the room. Each time a child states, "Oh, I get it now!" I know that I have made the right career decision."

By the way, Kyff's 24-year-old daughter, Kelley Foote, is keeping the family tradition alive. She’s a fourth-grade teacher in South Lyon.

Two other Detroit teachers have been named Michigan Teacher of the Year: Jacqueline Caffey  in 1985 and Rosalind Zepf in 1952.