MISSOURI TEACHERS AWARD GOES TO FRUITLAND EDUCATOR

Martha Short has taught fifth grade at North Elementary in Fruitland for 18 years, and she must be doing something right -- this year she was named Outstanding Elementary Mathematics Teacher of the Year by the Missouri Council Teachers of Mathematics.

"I was extremely surprised," Short said of the award. "It normally goes to big city folks."

The prestigious award is presented every year to teachers who show excellence in overall math instruction.

Attaining this honor was by no means simple. First, Short had to get three letters of recommendation, write an essay on a provided topic, and present her resume.

Her essay was on the most difficult aspect of her field, which Short says is staying abreast of the changes that are constantly occurring in education.

"There's always a new way to teach," Short said. "There's always a better way to approach the subject and make it more understandable."

Short said the award doesn't usually go to "big city folks" because they are better teachers, but because they have technology and resources on their side.

After all, Short is a teacher of 26 students in a school of 130.

Despite this, she says when students leave North Elementary they are equally educated as the children from the "big city" schools.

"We can compete," Short said. "We [the teachers there] know we're doing our jobs by the math and writing contests that we do so well in."

She describes teaching elementary education as being Mother Theresa and a drill sergeant all rolled into one.

"The reason we do what we do is to help students learn," she said. "So much of teaching is showing students they don't know as much as they think they do."

Teaching is in Martha Short's blood. Her mother was a teacher in a one-room school house for many, many years.

While that may have had something to do with her decision to be a teacher, she says she can't remember ever wanting to do anything else.

"Teaching was always there," Short said. "There was never anything else."

Teaching must be hard, but Short admits that learning is no easy task, either.

"Learning is hard work. It's not a piece of cake. It just doesn't happen all on its own, the kids have to want to learn."

And surprisingly, Short hasn't burned out, or stopped learning herself, even after 18 years.

"If you keep up with the new stuff that goes on, it stays fresh," Short said. "They say for every new idea you have to disregard two old ones."

Does Martha Short feel like she's made a difference in students' lives?

"I hope I have," she says. "But that's every teacher's hope."

Even Short realizes that she hasn't helped every student that's walked through her classroom doors, though.

"No matter what you do or how you try, you will never reach every student. That's your goal, and it should be, but no matter how hard you work, you won't reach them all."

Short compares it to the doctor who vows never to let a patient die. "But they do," Short says grimly.

The best part of her job, she says, is when she sees that the students are learning.

"When you can see the kids picking up on new concepts -- things that they've never realized -- that's what it's all about."