Egyptian Community Unit School's Elissa Miller Named a Finalist for Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching

Elissa Miller, Math teacher at Egyptian Community Unit School, Finalist for Golden Award for Excellence in Teaching

The Golden Apple Foundation, the leading Illinois nonprofit committed to preparing, honoring and supporting educators who advance educational opportunities for students, announced the 2022 finalists for the prestigious Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching. A highly competitive award process resulted in the selection of 30 9th-12th grade teacher finalists, including Elissa Miller who teaches Math at Egyptian Community Unit School District 5. Elissa was selected as one of 30 finalists in Illinois.

Through her algebra teachings, Miller has had a positive impact on students by creating a peer-to-peer learning environment that fosters inclusion and group sharing. Instead of working on activities singularly and in silence, Miller’s class is regularly encouraged to share answers, strategies and techniques to solve in-course material, which later benefits students on course exams and quizzes. Miller believes none of this would have been possible had she continued teaching an old, outdated course curriculum that tried to incorporate an inordinate amount of subjects into a single school year. Now she teaches using a curriculum that contains not only more accessible material but better channels through which students can access that material (games, study guides, self-tests, quizzes and more).

While math isn’t a subject normally tied to cultural underpinnings, Miller hopes to change that through new in-class activities. One such activity involves asking students to create poster summaries of mathematicians before analyzing the different voices and individuals who contributed to fields such as algebra and geometry. In this way and more, Miller constantly goes above and beyond for students, making sure they have both a foundational understanding of core mathematical concepts and a cultural grounding of where and how those concepts were developed.

“These last two years have truly taken a toll on teachers, staff, families, and students,” said Alan Mather, President of Golden Apple. “While great teachers have always been impactful, this is particularly true during this past year, where these finalists have demonstrated the commitment to providing ongoing support and high-quality instruction to their students and we are proud to honor them.”

The Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching honor outstanding teachers for having lasting, positive effects on students’ lives and school communities. Teacher finalists demonstrate -- in their teaching and results -- significant, positive impact on their students’ growth and learning.

“Teachers - like these finalists - are in high demand across our state and country,” said Alicia Winckler, CEO of Golden Apple. “The Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching recognizes and elevates this critical profession. With a growing teacher shortage, we need more highly effective teachers to positively impact the lives of students in all of our communities.”

The selected 2022 Golden Apple Award recipients will be surprised in the spring. Northwestern University generously provides a spring sabbatical to award recipients at no cost. Each recipient receives a $5,000 cash award. Award recipients become Fellows of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, a community of educators who play an important role in preparing the next generation of teachers in the Golden Apple Scholars and Accelerators programs - which are dedicated to addressing the teacher shortage in Illinois.

About Golden Apple

Golden Apple's mission is to inspire, develop and support teacher and school leader excellence, especially in schools-of-need. Our leading-edge preparation delivers exceptional teachers who make an impact. We help students thrive in the classroom and in life. Since our beginning, we have recognized master educators annually; and, these master educators help prepare the next generation of teachers. Our vision is one in which every classroom has a great teacher and to realize this, we are committed to making a material difference in resolving the teacher shortage. Visit http://www.goldenapple.org for more information.