Small Town News

Award given to Hallett Elementary teacher

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Darrel John is one heck of a thumb wrestler.

While this probably wasn't the characteristic that won him recognition as September's KHQ-EWU Teacher of the Month, it's pretty big praise coming from a fifth-grader.

Student Dara Abounorinejad, now in sixth grade, was in John's class at Hallett Elementary last year and nominated him for the award. As well as the finger-fighting accolades, he wrote about his teacher's "great sense of humor" and his sneaky way of making students think.

Abounorinejad wrote, "I felt that we are learning without doing much work but when I looked back I realized that he in fact made us do extra work without us realizing it, and believe me if a teacher can make me work extra he is an extra ordinary teacher!"

John throws the praises right back, calling Abounorinejad a "bright boy with a real good sense of humor. He's one of those students who can take a basic assignment and expand upon it, producing work that shows a real depth of intelligence," he said.

At a pep rally to jump-start some Hallett Hawk pride early this school year, John was "entirely surprised" when news anchors Dan Kleckner and Stephanie Vigil showed up to present him with the award. "I saw KHQ cameras but it never crossed my mind that they were here for anything other than to help set this year off," he said.

The "Teacher Hall of Fame" program was one of the first in Washington state when introduced in 1983 by administrators at the Robert Reid Laboratory School. Its current incarnation began in 1987 when it was handed over to the EWU education department and KHQ became a sponsor.

Lester Portner, director of the

Educational Leadership Program at EWU, said his department's staff members take turns mulling over nominations that come in on a regular basis throughout the month.

About 225 Inland Northwest teachers have been recognized for their work with kids in the past 22 years. John is the sixth teacher to be selected from the Medical Lake School District and the first from Hallett Elementary.

He and his wife Susie, a fifth grade teacher at Betz Elementary in Cheney, have lived in Medical

Lake for 27 years. John landed his first teaching job in Hay den Lake, Idaho before traveling with his wife and their three kids to teach in a small northern Alaska village for a few years.

After 10 years at Great Northern Elementary in Spokane, John came to Hallett, where he's taught for 17 years.

He said he's enjoyed teaching in smaller-sized schools as well as living in a town like Medical Lake. "You get to know the parents more and it's a close community," he said. "You go to the post office and it takes awhile because you run into people there."

John said a 30-plus year career in teaching has taught him many things; one of them being that teaching isn't the only profession that can educate. "Whether it's a teacher, author, broadcaster or someone doing research in the field, they have something to offer," he said. "Your entire life you're constantly consuming and gaining some perspective that hopefully brings you to a greater understanding...It helps you to generate or to create your own personal perspective about what you think is right."

John said he's encouraged every time he sees students figuring out their own way to process the world around them. "It just gives me a sense of hope."

Ryan Lancaster can be reached at ryan@cheneyfreepress.com



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© 2009 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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