- December 20, 2024
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One particular teacher inspired Allison Kucharski to become an educator herself. School didn’t come easily to Kucharski, and she recalls turning in a writing assignment as a child and then feeling dread when the teacher called her to her desk.
“I assumed the worst,” Kucharski wrote in her Teacher of the Year application. “Instead, she applauded my creativity and how my original ideas kept her interest throughout the entire paper. For the first time ever, I felt equal to my peers and proud of myself. This is a feeling that I will always aim to instill in my students.”
Kucharski, Rymfire’s Teacher of the Year, has taught second graders at Rymfire since 2017 and began working at the school in 2006 as a kindergarten teacher after spending the previous year as a substitute teacher and early childhood educator in St. Johns County.
Allison’s classroom is a very special ‘first stop’ for our students with disabilities, who begin each day with Allison’s kindness and heartfelt greeting.”
— TRACY KUHN, second grade teacher
At Rymfire, she focuses on building relationships that last beyond the school year, she wrote.
“It is imperative for the students to understand that our classroom is a community, where everyone is valued, respected, and treated as an equal by their peers as well as myself,” she wrote.
Kucharski knows every child by name and greets them when they pass by her door, fellow second grade teacher Tracy Kuhn wrote in a letter of recommendation for Kucharski’s application.
“Allison’s classroom is a very special ‘first stop’ for our students with disabilities,
who begin each day with Allison’s kindness and heartfelt greeting,” Kuhn wrote. “When Allison’s students walk into her classroom, they immediately feel the love and care that she pours into her classroom environment and her instruction.”
Rymfire Assistant Principal Jamie Pedro recalls how Kucharski helped out a few years ago when a pair of great-grandparents who were raising their grandchildren had increasing trouble assisting the children as they aged.
“Ms. Kucharski, along with our principal, Ms. Moore at the time, alternated walking the students home to ensure their safety,” Pedro wrote in a letter of recommendation for Kucharski. “Ms. K’s discipline in providing strong teaching is evident in her daily practices, but this example is a testament to how her love transcends the classroom.”
Kucharski also mentors students who are English language learners who are in grades two through five. All of those students, this year, have been in the U.S. for less than three years, and the majority moved to Florida within the last three months, she wrote.
“They are truly amazing students whose home languages vary from speaking, Creole, Russian, Ukrainian, and Spanish,” she wrote. “I am fortunate to provide many of these students with support that range from learning new vocabulary words to reading on grade texts. … I am not sure who is more excited to see their progression: their families, their teachers, themselves, or me!”
Assessment scores show that Kucharski’s approach to teaching is working.
In the 2022-2023 school year, 100% of her students showed growth on their Core Phonics exams from the fall to the spring.
Allison possesses a remarkable ability to engage students in the learning process, making even the most challenging subjects accessible and interesting.”
— TRAVIS LEE, Rymfire Elementary School principal
Rymfire Elementary Principal Travis Lee wrote in a letter of recommendation for Kucharski’s Teacher of the Year application that her students have shown exceptional achievements in both reading and math.
“Allison possesses a remarkable ability to engage students in the learning process, making even the most challenging subjects accessible and interesting,” Lee wrote. “She pours her soul into teaching her students systematically and explicitly while providing specific feedback to increase her students' understanding.”
