I was recently honored as an Outstanding Educator in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System for a second time. Due to Covid, the awards ceremony was held via Zoom rather than the traditional luncheon. Cathy Wurzer emceed the event, which streamed on April 22. The MinnState system sent each honoree a box containing some treats to enjoy during the ceremony, a few pieces of MinnState swag, a framed certificate, and a medal – silver for the Outstanding Educator winners and gold for the Educators of the Year.

I was previously honored as an Outstanding Educator in 2020. Since there was no award in 2021 (another Covid causality), I was honored two times in a row. I enjoyed this event from my campus office, snacking on the popcorn and caramels from Candyland while wearing my medal. When you get an award that comes with a medal, you wear it whenever you have the opportunity.

The ceremony highlighted the work of the 50+ educators in the Minnesota State system who were honored during this event. Watching the work of my fellow faculty inspires me to want to do better, be better. They motivate me to live up to the Outstanding Educator status.

It makes me think about what I could do differently or better. How I can be more responsive to students and make my classes more interactive in a meaningful way. How I can innovate my courses in a way that benefits students. How I can provide more resources, better resources to my students to me them where they are in their education journey. How I can adjust my assignments to be more culturally responsive. How can I make the work I assign more meaningful and impactful for students.

I think the goal of any educator is to teach their classes better every day. Better at explaining the course concepts, connecting with students, and helping them reach their educational goals. I have never taught the same lesson the same way. It doesn’t matter if I teach the lesson once a year or four times a week, I never teach it the same way. Each group of students is different and has different needs. Each time I teach a lesson, I better understand how to reach my students, break down the concept so they can grasp it, and what tools work best and which ones I should leave behind.

Outstanding educators tend to create their own work. Each day teaches me something new. Teaching a class face-to-face makes me consider how to improve the lecture videos for online students or revise a problem to make it more effective. Teaching online makes me hone my communication clarity and enhance class organization, which are critical to navigating a learning management system. This semester, I teach an introduction to chemistry course face-to-face. For the past three years, I have only taught this class online. Teaching the lecture face-to-face caused me to refresh the lecture notes and develop new ways to engage students in the material online. As a result, I will spend a lot of time this summer updating course materials and re-recording lecture videos for the online course.

Outstanding Educator isn’t an award given to me. It is an honor I will aspire to for the remainder of my time in the classroom and my career as an educator.

I look forward to the challenge.