EVANSTON, IL — A kindergarten teacher at Willard Elementary School was named a finalist for the 2021 Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching.
Meghan Rice, who has taught in Evanston/Skokie School District 65 for the past four years, was selected last month as one of 32 finalists out of more than 700 nominations for the prestigious award, a record in its 35-year history.
This year, the award for educators will be given to teachers at the pre-kindergarten to third grade level. Last year, the award went to fourth through eighth grade teachers, and next year it will rotate back to the high school level.
Rice said capturing the curiosity and imagination of younger children can set them up to have the stamina to endure the more than a decade of institutionalized education that kindergarteners have ahead of them, building foundational skills that set up kids for success.
“I just love little people. They’re fun, they are eager to learn. There’s this wonder and awe that young children possess about life, and when you look at the research, it shows the importance of a strong educational and social-emotional foundation begins at birth,” Rice said. “So birth to about five years, that window is really critical — for the brain and just for their development. So knowing how important that is, I love being able to support and grow with them and to partner with their families, so that they also feel confident in being their children’s first teachers.”
Nearly a year after schools halted in-person instruction amid the coronavirus pandemic, Rice’s class remains fully remote. A few members of her class opted for hybrid learning and switched classes when District 65 started offering some in-person instruction, but since the vast majority opted to remain remote, so did she.
In the early weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak in Illinois last year, Rice said her main focus was on the mental health of her students.
“My primary goal last year was to maintain a sense of emotional stability for my students,” she said. “So one of the thing that I utilized — that some of the literacy specialists in our district created — were these journal entries. And it was essentially a time capsule for these kids to be able to write out their experiences in the pandemic, and writing out difficult feelings, things that they’re thankful for, and having daily conversations about where they were in life. So that was a big key, still trying to figure out how to incorporate academic concepts but wanting to, at the very least, provide the emotional support to let the kids know you’re not alone, this is a constant, we’ll be on this time every day.”
Before the 2020-21 school year began, Rice made a point of making a real-world connection with her class of new students. She and her 5-year-old son decorated customizable plastic cups with the names of each new student and hand-delivered them, meeting the families of incoming kindergarteners in person outside their homes.
“I just wanted each child in my classroom to have a touchpoint. Even though we couldn’t touch each other, I wanted them to have a touchpoint. So in the morning, we have our morning drinks together,” she said. “I also just wanted them to see that there is a human behind this screen and to know me in some capacity.”
Rice praised the academic progress of her students during the nearly eight months of fully instruction that followed, crediting the sense of trust and community she has built with students.
“We’ve really been following the curriculum, so essentially where I would have been in the classroom is where we are right now. When I look at my data, when I look at the scope and sequence of where we are,” she said. “Then even for math, I feel like in some ways, it’s even more robust, and they’re doing way more than I think I would have done in a regular year.”
Outside of her classroom work, Rice is an independent recording artist, a board member for Youth Chorus of the North Shore and the vice chair of the board of Childcare Network of Evanston, or CNE, which provides early childhood health and educational support, job training, and help to enroll in Head Start from before birth to kindergarten.
“It’s just been a pleasure and a joy to partner with CNE, because I get to see the impact, especially within the district, getting to meet families and then some of the families even end up coming to my school,” Rice said. “I’ve even have some of the kids in my class.”
A district parent who leads the youth chorus who had learned about Rice’s musical ability asked if she would be interested in helping the group’s work to better support marginalized communities.
“I love their program, because even in the pandemic they’ve been able to pivot. [Youth Chorus of the North Shore is] providing free classes around artistry and singing for kids as young as preschool all the way up to 12th grade, and then if kids want to join our choir, we have tryouts, but if there’s ever a financial hurdle, we have either partial or full scholarships to make sure that that doesn’t hinder them,” she said.
“Then we have people who can classically train them in the vocal arts, to help them achieve their dream of learning how to read music and how to sing, and ideally that helps translate when they possibly do competitive choirs or want to go off to college and have those skill sets.”
The Golden Apple Awards started in 1986 in the Chicago area and have since expanded to include the entire state. Winners are awarded a one-semester free sabbatical at Northwestern University and a $5,000 cash award.
Alan Mather, Golden Apple Foundation president, said the past year has elevated the vital role of teachers in the lives of families and communities.
“The resilience teachers have demonstrated while navigating teaching during the global pandemic and through a time of racial awakening, while providing the high-quality education and social-emotional support students need, has been tremendously impactful,” Mather said in a statement announcing the 32 finalists. “We are honored to recognize the extraordinary work of these finalists.”
Golden Apple award-winners also become fellows of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, who help mentor and train the next generation of teachers to help address the teacher shortage in Illinois, according to the nonprofit.
“To know that they selected me, like they said, out of 708 people, it was really humbling,” Rice said. “My first year of teaching I was very insecure as a practitioner. I didn’t feel confident, and I think I cried every day for about six months, because I just felt — even though I had a master’s degree — I didn’t feel as secure as I wanted to. So one of my professional goals my first year, but also a silent prayer, was that one day I would be a leader in my field. I prayed all the time: one day I don’t want to feel this insecure.”
Rice began her teaching career eight years ago in Chicago Public Schools teaching pre-kindergarten at Carter School of Excellence in the Washington Park neighborhood, where she said she still visits to share available educational resources with families. While still at CPS, she began working with a coach to work through her insecurities. Rice said she learned of an open position at District 65 while in the process of moving from Chicago to Highland Park. About a year into her time at Willard, she felt confident she had become an educational leader.
“I was like: I don’t want any other educators to feel the way I’m feeling. I want to figure out how to create systems and routines so that I can replicate it and share it and share best practices,” she said. “So to be where I am now, and to feel like I have this opportunity in my district prior to the nomination to serve as an educational leader, to serve as a mentor in some capacities, and then to have this type of recognition — it means a lot in very deep and personal ways, because I know what my journey has been, and it is not been a cakewalk. It’s been hard and arduous, and long, so I’m grateful because there’s been a lot of hard work and tears that have gone into this right now. So to have external validation is encouraging.”
