For as long as Allison Cyr ’11 can remember, she wanted to be a teacher. 我出身于教育世家, Cyr would often position her stuffed animals in a row in her childhood bedroom and pretend they were an audience of students.
“That’s what I thought teaching was,” she recalls with a laugh. “Now, I wake up every day and wonder what my students are going to teach me.”
Cyr’s view that the student-teacher relationship is reciprocal has allowed her to connect with her fourth-grade students at Lyndon B. 加州印第奥市的约翰逊小学. It also helped her to secure the title of 2021 加州 Teacher of the Year.
在学生所在的地方会见他们
在威尼斯人平台, Cyr studied sociology and anthropology and jointly pursued a teaching credential through the 教育学院 with the end goal of becoming a high school math teacher. But after completing a long-term substitute teaching assignment for a fifth-grade class, 她改变主意了.
“With elementary school students, you get to pick back up every day where you left off,” she says. “It’s so fun to watch them grow and see the lightbulb go off when they make real-life connections with what you’re teaching.”
Cyr believes that every student has something to offer—teachers just have to meet them where they are. Amidst an educational environment of standardized testing and common core curriculum, she often starts casual conversations with her students about what they want to be when they grow up or what their current interests are. These interactions allow her to get to know her students on a deeper level while also showing them she values their thoughts.
Throughout her life, Cyr had several teachers who demonstrated this approach. 她回忆起她的高中数学老师, 丹尼斯·查韦斯, who often told stories that revealed his own struggles and hard work to overcome them. Her aunt, also a high school math teacher, actively took interest in her students’ lives. Former U of R Professor James Spickard made the time to meet with Cyr outside of class, 最终教会她超越课本的生活.
“学生们需要看到他们的老师是有人性的，”她说. “他们需要看到你失败. That you get back up; that you try again; that you make mistakes. 笑也没关系，哭也没关系.”
This transparency and honesty isn’t the only way Cyr has served her students. To stay with the students she had been distance teaching during the pandemic, Cyr transitioned from teaching third grade to fourth at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. When her school transitioned to hybrid learning and invited students back to the campus in the spring, she volunteered to continue to teach remotely for students who needed it.
在整个经历中，她看到了光明的一面. “看着孩子们适应真是太棒了，”她说. “[The pandemic] provided a new perspective on what to do in a classroom and how to make it better. I was grateful I could continue to do my job in a pandemic; two decades ago, 这些技术甚至都不存在. 我真的相信这取决于老师的态度. If the teacher makes the most of it, kids are willing to show up and learn.”
创造了机会
When Cyr received the call that she had been named one of the five 加州 老师 of the Year in October 2020, 她简直不敢相信. While the distinction lends itself to congratulations from fellow school administrators and teachers, title has also given her a new platform and a chance to talk about Twenty4Change, 501(c)(3) nonprofit she created while she was a student teacher.
与同事牛头犬Briana Enriquez-Roven ' 09成立, ’11, organization facilitates programming and promotes the idea that it only takes 20 minutes or $20 to change a life. 通过支持各种事业, 制作爱心包, 并促进其他的善举, Cyr works to create opportunities for people—including her students—to make a difference in the world.
The emphasis on community service was something that Cyr liked about the 威尼斯人平台 because it was a value she grew up with. In the years since she graduated, Cyr has worked to continue the mission in her own life. While at 雷德兰兹, she even donated a kidney to her former Spanish teacher, Mr. Lienhard, after she turned out to be a near-perfect blood match.
Cyr’s reasoning for the donation stems back to the importance of connection. During a trip to Spain in high school, Cyr experienced a bout of homesickness. Lienhard and his wife responded by taking steps to ensure she was consoled and comforted. 在最初的善意表现之后的十多年, Cyr and Lienhard teach in the same school district and see each other regularly.
目前是她执教的第10个年头, Cyr能够识别她成长的方式, 个人和专业. Previously wary of change, she notes that she’s more confident than ever.
“Teaching has taught me that there’s a reason why I am where I am,” she says. “这是我应该去的地方.”
