Teachers from three Johnson County school districts reached the top 25 for Indiana’s Teacher of the Year.
Franklin Community High School geography teacher Craig Harvey, Greenwood Community High School journalism teacher Denise Green and Walnut Grove Elementary School second grade teacher Rachel Cline, despite not reaching the final 10 nominees, are among the top 0.0003% of the 79,120 teachers in Indiana, according to data from the Indiana Department of Education. Each teacher in contention for the Teacher of the Year was chosen by leaders from their school district and had to submit a portfolio for consideration, including information about community service efforts.
Craig Harvey
Harvey is beginning his 16th year in education. He taught eight years in Michigan before moving to Franklin, where he’s teaching his eighth year at Franklin Community High School.
“I didn’t go to college to be a teacher,” Harvey said. “I looked at psych as a major and did substitute teaching. In the meantime, I discovered I loved it.”
He would go on to get his degree in special education and emotional impairment and behavioral disorders. Although he doesn’t teach special education now, he said his work in the area helped form his teaching style.
“Teaching a whole child is the first and foremost experience and making sure kids have a good understanding not just of class materials and content, but to have an adult in the building who cares about them,” Harvey said. “It creates a nice, relaxed atmosphere where kids can be open to learning and asking questions and growing as a whole. I was teaching an emotionally and behaviorally impaired classroom and carried those characteristics over and have a very relaxed demeanor and attitude. It doesn’t do any good to be upset or angry.”
Along with the work he does in the classroom, Harvey is a volunteer volleyball coach and has helped donate items to students in need, including beds, sneakers and wheelchairs.
“Oftentimes, we as educators see students have needs but we don’t have the means to measure those or the opportunities to get things we realize students need,” Harvey said. “I made the decision to be a teacher at 23 or 24 and had to make a decision on how to live. I was staying out of my car, couch-surfing. Friends and people helped me out during that time and I substitute taught because I enjoyed that so much. Through people helping me and supporting me I realized I have an opportunity now in my current role to give back.”
Denise Green
In the 26 years she’s taught at Greenwood Community High School, Green brought the school’s journalism program back from being nearly dead.
When she started working at the school in 1996, there were just 12 students in the school’s journalism program. Now, there are more than 150, and the program has gone from just journalism and yearbook to include yearbook, newspaper, broadcast journalism and photography, Green said.
“It’s a far cry from the 12 kids I started with in 1996,” she said. “I’m always trying to do something new. I don’t use the same lesson plans as five years ago, and I’m constantly trying to learn in journalism. There’s always something new to learn. There’s a new version of InDesign, and the kids get excited and I get more excited. The kids are pushing the social media part of the newspaper staff, so I’m learning a lot. I’m an old dog learning new tricks.”
Over time, the program has not only grown, but excelled. The student-run Timberlines newspaper has won First Class in the International Quill and Scroll competition the past two years, and has gotten the award five times over the past 28 years, she said.
Students invest in the classes because they feel a sense of significance, Green said.
“Kids are drawn to the program because they know what they’re doing matters,” she said. “They’re doing something for the public, talking about what people need to know and how to get that information to them. They know what they’re doing in my classroom is far bigger than themselves.”
Much of her work off the clock involves helping people involved with Greenwood Community High School stay informed about current events, she said.
“I’ve worked so hard all these years and I’m always at the school doing so much to help other teachers, writing press releases for them and filing the band invitational, being there for 12 hours. I have a monthly newsletter I send to all the parents. I do it because it needs to get done,” Green said. “To have people notice the stuff I’ve done that I don’t get paid for and realize other people notice what I did is the most touching part of the whole thing.”
Rachel Cline
Cline is in her 13th year teaching second grade at Walnut Grove Elementary School, part of the Center Grove Community School Corporation.
She was about the same age as her current students when she decided to pursue a career in education.
“I wanted to be a teacher since I was in elementary school; my third-grade teacher inspired me,” Cline said. “She just really taught me to love learning. I wanted to bring that and meet the various needs of all children. I really liked the primary age, they are fun and learn a lot in those ages and seeing how beneficial those years are.”
One of the most important aspects of teaching is meeting the needs of each student, Cline said.
“I would say probably just adapting to meet the needs of children, which has changed over the years,” she said. “One big change has been the technology and being able to integrate that in a way to meet kids’ needs. When I first started teaching, we did not have any technology. We have so many awesome tools, the smart board is really nice. They can come up and be interactive with whatever our lesson is.”
Cline also started Megan’s Fund, dedicated to a childhood friend who passed away. The non-profit organization is dedicated to providing for children during Christmastime. Along with her work outside of school, she runs student council and math bowl, and assists with robotics club and tutoring, she said.
“It’s a huge honor to be nominated among these awesome, wonderful, amazing teachers,” Cline said. “I want to continue to make a difference in the lives of children. I love seeing kids grow.”
