Summerdale Elementary School named Minnie Skinner its 2010 “Teacher of the Year.”

She has been teaching for more than 30 years and she is a reading coach at Summerdale. Skinner has taught at schools in Maryland, Louisiana and Guam. After retiring from a career in Maryland, Skinner found her way to Baldwin County and began her position at Summerdale. 

“When I came here we sort of semi-retired. My husband has an antique store in Fairhope. I wasn’t finished ished teaching, though,” she said.

She graduated from the Centenary College in Shreveport, La., with a bachelor’s degree and then earned her master’s degree in education from Loyola University in Baltimore, Md.

Skinner grew up in Tennessee, but she said her family roots have always been in lower Alabama. She and her husband run an antiques store in Fairhope and she has two children and three grandchildren who live in Texas.

She was honored her colleagues selected her to be teacher of the year. 

“I was absolutely thrilled that the teachers at this school would honor me with such a title,” Skinner said. “It is really a very humbling thing. My job is really to push teachers and sometimes they want to be pushed and sometimes they don’t want to be pushed. It just kind of blew me away.”

The Onlooker spoke with Skinner about her teaching experiences and strategies.

Q: How did you get started teaching?

A: I have been in teaching for probably over 33 years. I am at the last part of my career. I moved here from Montgomery County, Maryland outside of Washington D.C., after a full career there as a reading specialist.

Q: What drew you to teach at Summerdale School?

A: As the State of Alabama was putting in this reading initiative I was lucky enough to come to this school. What is neat about this school is that my grandmother, Minnie McCurdy came to this school also. This is a Summerdale family, although I didn’t grow up here. It was just like, I was supposed to be here in Summerdale.

Q: What other career paths did you consider?

A: I wanted to pursue children’s literature at one point in my life, but my first husband passed away and circumstances led me to not be able to get that degree. I collect books, I collect toys that go with books. I try to show children how something comes alive. I thought, oh, I will have a children’s book store, but I never did that. The big stores came about. I love Fairhope for stores like Page and Palette.

Q: What have you learned about teaching?

A: My oldest grandson is four. I noticed that I still have a lot to learn about teaching by having a grandchild. It has turned me into not being an old teacher but a rejuvenated teacher because times are different and you have to find ways to appeal to children in ways that are so different than even 10 years ago. Children are thinking faster than ever. Sitting down and reading material is a different kind of thinking. I am kind of excited about learning that. Working with young teachers really is one of my passions. I love watching a new teacher be open to learning older ways to deal with problems and then I bring questions to them and they bring questions to me and we collaborate. A lot of my day is spent meeting with teachers.

Q: Why do you teach?

A: Because I think it is a cause that is neverending to take a child and have them know that they are special and change the world really through one child. That must be why I keep doing this.

Q: Why did you choose to do elementary education?

A: Because they come with less problems. There are less things to have to undo. I love the challenge. They are so very honest, so they keep me honest. That is part of it.

Q: Where did you start teaching?

A: My very first teaching job was in Guam. My husband was in the Air Force and I graduated from college and got a job teaching in Guam. I taught little children who didn’t speak English. I loved it. I only did it for six months.

Q: What is your most memorable teaching experience?

A: I also taught in Louisiana in the times when schools were becoming integrated. I was new teacher and I was put in a school where they integrated the teachers. We had half black teachers, half white teachers but all of the children were black. The children thought I was black. I learned from that children don’t see color. They see people who care about others. That was a long time ago. Those memories stay with you.

Q: How has teaching changed since you started?

A: Times are much better for children and for teachers. I used to have to stand in line to check out a record player to bring in to my classroom. We are blessed in Baldwin County. In some of the poor schools and some of the best schools we have at our disposal technology and books and great kids to help us along the way. You have to know what it was like to not even have a ream of paper.

Q: What is your favorite part of teaching?

A: My favorite part of teaching is — and I just experienced this last week — I was working with a little guy who could not read and was angry with himself. I have been working and I went to talk with the teacher and we discussed how it was not the right approach, but everyday we kept working with him. All of the sudden last week, the pieces came together and the light bulb came on. It made me cry. I realized maybe I am not as old as I thought I was. He is now a reader. To take someone who has really struggled and help continue to build their confidence.

Q: What is your least favorite part about teaching?

A: My least favorite part is documenting every single thing that I have to do. It becomes tedious for me. I know that it is necessary and in order to show where you have been you have to do that, but it is not my favorite part.

Q: What kind of techniques and teaching methods do you use that are unique to you?

A: I think that one of the things I do is listen to children and hearing if something is working to help them see it and be patient enough to try that technique. And, also, being willing to change.

Q: What impact do you hope to have on your students?

A: That they should know that they can read and that they will read and that it will be a tool for them to see the world through a different lens. This might be the only way that they get there for some of these kids.

Q: What is the biggest challenge you have faced as a teacher?

A: Gaining the respect of my colleagues is always the biggest challenge. Teachers are overworked, probably underpaid and we have the weight of the world on them. For them to be able to move forward is the hardest thing that I have had to do. Coming to Summerdale might have been my biggest challenge. I knew that I had something to offer still to teachers and children, but to really be able to have that relationship they needed to be able to trust me.

Q: What makes you a good teacher?

A: Patience and being able to listen and caring deeply about children.

Q: How much time do you spend working outside of the classroom?

A: I pretty much do too much out of the classroom still. It is part job, part hobby. Half a day on a Sunday is still pretty standard for me to put in. I try to help my husband with his business a little bit so that I will know the people of this community outside of teaching and I spend time with my family and children.

Q: What is it like to have a summer vacation?

A: Luckily, teachers have a great summer. Pretty much in the summer I pursue those family interests.

Q: How do you make sure your students get the best education they can?

A: Constantly monitoring progress and along with that comes documenting that progress and making decisions based on that.