Fourth Grade Teacher Lisa Shotts Named 2018-2019 Union District Teacher of the Year

Lisa Shotts, a fourth grade teacher at Ellen Ochoa Elementary, has been named the 2018-2019 Union Public Schools District Teacher of the Year. She was honored today during the annual Teacher of Year reception, along with all of the site teachers, at the Union Performing Arts Center.
Shotts started teaching at Union in 2008 after working in the private sector for nine years. She was ready to work with students.
Teaching students that writing gives them a voice in the world and that words matter is “her daily joy,” Shotts said.
“I love to guide my students to find the inner writer within them and give them a structure to communicate effectively and with purpose,” she said. “Writing is the great equalizer in the classroom for our striving students because it allows them flexibility in their thinking and a mode of communication.”
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Lisa Shotts, a fourth grade teacher at Ellen Ochoa Elementary, has been named the 2018-2019 Union Public Schools District Teacher of the Year. She was honored during the annual Teacher of Year reception, along with all of the site teachers, at the Union Performing Arts Center.
“Teaching was not on my radar as a profession until after I had children,” Shotts said. “Watching my own children’s insatiable curiosity about everything in life ignited my passion and desire to provide this type of learning environment for all children. From the moment I stepped into the classroom my single focus has been to create a classroom environment where students can find their own passions and curiosities and develop their inner voice so they can identify problems in their community and know that they have the power to be the change in the world.”
Shotts started teaching at Union in 2008 after working in the private sector for nine years. She was ready to work with students.
Teaching students that writing gives them a voice in the world and that words matter is “her daily joy,” Shotts said.
“I love to guide my students to find the inner writer within them and give them a structure to communicate effectively and with purpose,” she said. “Writing is the great equalizer in the classroom for our striving students because it allows them flexibility in their thinking and a mode of communication.”
Teachers face many obstacles in their classrooms, but for Shotts, she said, class size is the most detrimental to daily student learning.
“Large class sizes exacerbate all other challenges in the classroom,” she said. “Reducing class size would allow teachers to identify learning problems with individual students earlier in the school year, provide more opportunities for one on one teaching, allow teachers to provide more authentic learning opportunities in the classroom and support teachers dealing with students in crisis more effectively. 
“Class size is out of my control so I overcome it by putting systems into place to ensure that students don’t fall through the cracks, provide instruction that meets the needs of all the students, and work tirelessly to make sure every student receives the attention and instruction needed to grow as learners.”
Looking in the future is tough, she said.
“I love being back in the classroom and seeing students grow academically and emotionally.  I love giving them authentic opportunities to find their voice and make changes in their world,” Shotts said.  “I love developing a passionate love of reading and creating life-long learners and I will stay in the classroom as long as I can.”
Shotts holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Northeastern State University. She taught at Jenks Public Schools from 1994-1999 as a 5th grade teacher at Jenks Southeast and 6th grade teacher at Jenks Middle School.
Before teaching she was employed by Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company from 1999-2008 when she joined Union Public Schools.
At Union she has served as a third grade classroom teacher at McAuliffe Elementary from 2008-2009, and an instructional coach at McAuliffe Elementary 2009-2017 before coming to Ellen Ochoa as a fourth grade teacher in 2017.
Her Teachers College Institutes include Teachers College Reading Institute, Teachers College Writing Institute, Teachers College Reading Institute Level 2, Teachers College Coaching Institute, Teachers College Content Area Institute and Teachers College K-2 Institute.