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Business teacher Strong is celebrated for caring, compassion, uniqueness
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| Pam Strong is animated while she unwraps a gift at her reception honoring her as Keokuk Teacher of the Year. With her is Woodie Brassil, president of the Keokuk Education Association (teachers’ union). He presented the gifts. |
By Diane Vance/Gate City Staff Writer
Friends, family and co-workers began gathering early Wednesday in the Keokuk High School cafeteria to honor 2008 Keokuk Teacher of the Year, Pam Strong.
“She was my favorite teacher,” said Angela Phillips, a well-wisher whose son attends Keokuk public schools. “I love Mrs. Strong.”
Strong is in her 33rd year of teaching business education in the Keokuk School District.
Flower and balloons decorated the cafeteria in Strong's honor and KHS Student Council members served cake and punch to guests.
“Pam Strong is a dedicated and loyal school district employee,” said Woodie Brassil, Keokuk Education Association (teachers' union) president. “She's served as a building representative and chaired the Social Committee.
“She told me she was responsible for typing the master contract for years, which is quite a feat. Then I learned she meant she typed it on a typewriter.”
Brassil said Strong is enthusiastic with students and has given countless hours to the district.
“She cares deeply. She cares about each student and attends co-curricular events to support her students,” he said. “She develops relationships that make the world a better place.”
A teacher like Strong who has compassion for students comes along only once in a while, said KHS Principal Dave Keane.
“In my career with kids and in my five years in Keokuk, she stands out,” he said. “She inspires, encourages and sometimes she demands, the rest of us to keep up.
“She has aided and strengthened our career development curriculum. Our Career Fair, now held the past two years, is a model to other schools that call and ask for information.”
When he first took the principal job at Keokuk, Keane shared his philosophy with staff - it is the little things that separate the great teachers from the good.
“Pam is one of the great teachers,” he said. “She goes that extra mile. She's truly adopted her homeroom students. She keeps better scrapbooks of her students than, sadly, I do of my own children.”
Keane showed inspirational movie clips about teaching at a teachers' inservice meeting, he said.
“Just as in the movie ‘Dead Poets Society' when the students stand up on their chairs to protest their teacher (played by Robin Williams) being removed, if someone removed Mrs. Strong, we'd have a full-scale riot,” he said. “I appreciate getting to work with this outstanding teacher.”
Another KHS business teacher, Carolyn Harryman, said when she first started in 1999, she was in the classroom next to Strong.
“She was a good neighbor in every sense of the word,” said Harryman. “She made sure I knew where things were located, reminded me of activities and would call me early on snow days so I wouldn't start to drive to work. She takes care of substitute teachers as well.
“Parents stop by her room during conference time to say, ‘hi.' Those parents had her as a teacher themselves. She keeps in contact with her students' parents and keeps up a high energy level. Thank you for caring so much about students, Pam.”
KHS senior Derek Nash said he thought about what made Strong eligible for Teacher of the Year.
“She phones parents to say when students are doing well and when they are not,” he said. “She extends her care beyond her own classroom. She has checked with me about math assignments and other work.”
Strong received a “Mother Hen” award from the school last year for the famous scrapbooks of her homeroom students.
“If you are in one of Mrs. Strong's classes, at the beginning of the year you will sign a contract. You agree to do what she asks in the class. You sign it and your parents have to sign the contract. She has each student fill out a card with contact information. She also asks us to write five things about ourselves on a card. She refers to that throughout the year and gives it back at the end of the course, so we can see if we met our goals.
“Mrs. Strong does a good job of representing the Keokuk School District away from here,” said Nash. “She also helps out with the Bounce students.”
The Bounce program brings eighth grade students together with a group of high school students over the weeks in the last quarter of school, helping younger students prepare to transition to the high school next year.
“Mrs. Strong gives her time and efforts to help students,” said Nash. “We love you. Congratulations.”
Strong said she always knew she wanted to teach. Everyone has a favorite teacher, she said.
“Mine was Mrs. George in fourth grade. Everyday after lunch, we'd come in and she would read Laura Ingalls Wilder books to us,” she said. “She also taught us to cipher.”
She asked who in the room knew what is meant by ciphering.
“It's when two students go to the board to work a math problem,” she said. “The first one to finish is the winner. The winner stays at the board and another student comes up. I was good at long division. I liked math.
“I also enjoyed piano, though I might have driven my dad nuts with my constant practicing. I was good enough to be the piano accompanist in high school. I traveled around with the choir. So I thought I would like to teach vocal music. A friend pointed out I would need to be able to sing to teach vocal music. So it was back to math.
“I loved algebra in high school, I loved balancing equations. Then came geometry. I'm sorry but there is never a time in my daily life when I use theorems. I was okay back in Algebra II. In my senior year I took trigonometry. We came into class the first day and the teacher was writing all these symbols on the board and talking about fields. There were no numbers.
“I grew up in Rushville, Ill. We have corn fields, bean fields and wheat fields but I did not know what type of fields the trigonometry teachers was talking about. I dropped the class and took bookkeeping, what we now call accounting. And I loved it.”
Strong said last year's Keokuk Teacher of the Year Ed Bazow gave her some advice.
“He told me it's a humbling experience,” said Strong. “I'm representing all the Keokuk teachers. All the teachers deserve Teacher of the Year.
“I thank God everyday for giving me the smarts enough so I could be a teacher. And yes, I do love my students. Teaching has changed a lot in 33 years. I remember sitting in staff meetings listening to discussions of how we were going to handle gum chewing. I have three priorities in my job. The students; we're going to do lots of work; and we're going to have fun.”
She thanked her family, Keane and the KHS staff, her students and their parents.
“My mom always told us, ‘Get your education. They can't take it away.' I never figured out who ‘they' were,” said Strong. “But I keep a poster in my class.”
She showed a poster that reads: 30 years from now, it won't matter what shoes you wore, how your hair looked or the jeans you bought. What will matter is what you learned and how you used it.
“She was my favorite teacher,” said Angela Phillips, a well-wisher whose son attends Keokuk public schools. “I love Mrs. Strong.”
Strong is in her 33rd year of teaching business education in the Keokuk School District.
Flower and balloons decorated the cafeteria in Strong's honor and KHS Student Council members served cake and punch to guests.
“Pam Strong is a dedicated and loyal school district employee,” said Woodie Brassil, Keokuk Education Association (teachers' union) president. “She's served as a building representative and chaired the Social Committee.
“She told me she was responsible for typing the master contract for years, which is quite a feat. Then I learned she meant she typed it on a typewriter.”
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“She cares deeply. She cares about each student and attends co-curricular events to support her students,” he said. “She develops relationships that make the world a better place.”
A teacher like Strong who has compassion for students comes along only once in a while, said KHS Principal Dave Keane.
“In my career with kids and in my five years in Keokuk, she stands out,” he said. “She inspires, encourages and sometimes she demands, the rest of us to keep up.
“She has aided and strengthened our career development curriculum. Our Career Fair, now held the past two years, is a model to other schools that call and ask for information.”
When he first took the principal job at Keokuk, Keane shared his philosophy with staff - it is the little things that separate the great teachers from the good.
“Pam is one of the great teachers,” he said. “She goes that extra mile. She's truly adopted her homeroom students. She keeps better scrapbooks of her students than, sadly, I do of my own children.”
Keane showed inspirational movie clips about teaching at a teachers' inservice meeting, he said.
“Just as in the movie ‘Dead Poets Society' when the students stand up on their chairs to protest their teacher (played by Robin Williams) being removed, if someone removed Mrs. Strong, we'd have a full-scale riot,” he said. “I appreciate getting to work with this outstanding teacher.”
Another KHS business teacher, Carolyn Harryman, said when she first started in 1999, she was in the classroom next to Strong.
“She was a good neighbor in every sense of the word,” said Harryman. “She made sure I knew where things were located, reminded me of activities and would call me early on snow days so I wouldn't start to drive to work. She takes care of substitute teachers as well.
“Parents stop by her room during conference time to say, ‘hi.' Those parents had her as a teacher themselves. She keeps in contact with her students' parents and keeps up a high energy level. Thank you for caring so much about students, Pam.”
KHS senior Derek Nash said he thought about what made Strong eligible for Teacher of the Year.
“She phones parents to say when students are doing well and when they are not,” he said. “She extends her care beyond her own classroom. She has checked with me about math assignments and other work.”
Strong received a “Mother Hen” award from the school last year for the famous scrapbooks of her homeroom students.
“If you are in one of Mrs. Strong's classes, at the beginning of the year you will sign a contract. You agree to do what she asks in the class. You sign it and your parents have to sign the contract. She has each student fill out a card with contact information. She also asks us to write five things about ourselves on a card. She refers to that throughout the year and gives it back at the end of the course, so we can see if we met our goals.
“Mrs. Strong does a good job of representing the Keokuk School District away from here,” said Nash. “She also helps out with the Bounce students.”
The Bounce program brings eighth grade students together with a group of high school students over the weeks in the last quarter of school, helping younger students prepare to transition to the high school next year.
“Mrs. Strong gives her time and efforts to help students,” said Nash. “We love you. Congratulations.”
Strong said she always knew she wanted to teach. Everyone has a favorite teacher, she said.
“Mine was Mrs. George in fourth grade. Everyday after lunch, we'd come in and she would read Laura Ingalls Wilder books to us,” she said. “She also taught us to cipher.”
She asked who in the room knew what is meant by ciphering.
“It's when two students go to the board to work a math problem,” she said. “The first one to finish is the winner. The winner stays at the board and another student comes up. I was good at long division. I liked math.
“I also enjoyed piano, though I might have driven my dad nuts with my constant practicing. I was good enough to be the piano accompanist in high school. I traveled around with the choir. So I thought I would like to teach vocal music. A friend pointed out I would need to be able to sing to teach vocal music. So it was back to math.
“I loved algebra in high school, I loved balancing equations. Then came geometry. I'm sorry but there is never a time in my daily life when I use theorems. I was okay back in Algebra II. In my senior year I took trigonometry. We came into class the first day and the teacher was writing all these symbols on the board and talking about fields. There were no numbers.
“I grew up in Rushville, Ill. We have corn fields, bean fields and wheat fields but I did not know what type of fields the trigonometry teachers was talking about. I dropped the class and took bookkeeping, what we now call accounting. And I loved it.”
Strong said last year's Keokuk Teacher of the Year Ed Bazow gave her some advice.
“He told me it's a humbling experience,” said Strong. “I'm representing all the Keokuk teachers. All the teachers deserve Teacher of the Year.
“I thank God everyday for giving me the smarts enough so I could be a teacher. And yes, I do love my students. Teaching has changed a lot in 33 years. I remember sitting in staff meetings listening to discussions of how we were going to handle gum chewing. I have three priorities in my job. The students; we're going to do lots of work; and we're going to have fun.”
She thanked her family, Keane and the KHS staff, her students and their parents.
“My mom always told us, ‘Get your education. They can't take it away.' I never figured out who ‘they' were,” said Strong. “But I keep a poster in my class.”
She showed a poster that reads: 30 years from now, it won't matter what shoes you wore, how your hair looked or the jeans you bought. What will matter is what you learned and how you used it.
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Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of dailygate.com.
former student wrote on Apr 4, 2008 8:58 PM:
" I was in Mrs. Strong's class when in 8th grade, 33 years ago. She was one of the toughest teachers I'd ever had, but I finished her class typing 60 wpm. I am so thankful that she taught me to be able to type without looking at my fingers. We used an old fashioned manual typewriter back then. When I went college and got to use an IBM selectric I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Thank you Mrs. Strong. I really appreciate you. "
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Linda Wilkerson wrote on Apr 7, 2008 12:40 PM: