Lu King, Third Grade
2006-07 Cambridge Teacher of the Year

What makes Ms. King a good teacher? Cambridge staff, students and parents think that Ms. King knows very well the multitude of ways students learn and encourages them to use their strengths and styles to reach their goal. Lu King’s organizational skills and patience nurture a safe learning environment for all students. Lu’s educational philosophy is about building on students’ strengths instead of just addressing their deficits, thus it concentrates on all the good qualities they bring to her classroom. She chose this career to develop life-long learners who will reach their potential as adults.

Lu, without fail, always comes to school before 7 o’clock in the morning on workdays. She can be found working hard after school and during off-track periods, creating interesting and thought provoking lesson plans. According to her students, she motivates, rewards learning, structures the school day to their best benefit, and keeps them safe. As one student shared with me, Ms. King absolutely makes sure that her students learn all the skills they need for the next grade level. She encourages her students to use their mode of learning to understand the different concepts. The following comments from a parent summarizes succinctly Ms. King’s qualities: “Lu King makes learning fun and interesting to the children that they may not even realize that they are actually being taught a lesson. Ms. King can have several students working on different tasks throughout the room and everyone works quietly and independently, teaching the students to become independent learners. Many of the students have excelled under her direction, with 25% of her class testing for GATE this year. In the seven years that I have known Ms. King, I have never heard her raise her voice to a student. She keeps her class under control with a calm voice and respects each and every child.

Ms. King also promotes and encourages the kids physically as well as academically. Her class occupies the first place in the Mileage Club regularly and they have their own soccer team at recess.”

Each year Lu’s work on the Science Committee at Cambridge helps to promote student interest in science by arranging Family Science Night. Her favorite lesson in science is studying owl pellets to decipher their food habits. Her students share the science lesson experiences with their kindergarten buddy class regularly. Over the past years, Lu has taken a major role in organizing and scheduling the third grade field trip to Rush Ranch. It is without question that Ms. King works hard to ensure the success of the students at this school, but she is also willing to share materials and help other new staff members.

Lu’s enthusiasm to collaborate to serve all her students is evident in the following comments from our Speech Therapist. “Lu is very much in tune with each of her student's needs. She is an active participant at the IEP meetings of her students with special needs and is great about taking all of their needs into consideration and applying necessary modifications, tailoring her teaching to fit each child. She truly is a team player! Lu also appears to have terrific rapport with both parents and students. She has a positive, upbeat attitude and a true love of teaching which is apparent every time I see her. Lu does very well in keeping all of her students' pull-out schedules straight. It must be difficult keeping track of who goes out to Speech Therapy, Resource or other special services, but Lu doesn't skip a beat. She always remembers and sends her students on time, which is a great help to those of us who teach special education. I think Lu is an inspiration to everyone around her and she deserves this special recognition very much.”

Lu has been a source of inspiration for several students and educators. She possesses the personal qualities and professional skills that make her an outstanding educator who is committed to quality education. The number of volunteers in Ms. King’s room is a compelling testimony to what kind of teacher she is and Cambridge Elementary School nominates Lu King, a leader chosen by her peers, for this competitive award with great enthusiasm.