voices of osu
Storyteller Oklahoma’s 2012
Teacher of the Year
OSU alumna Kristin Shelby likes to tell stories of her past. She shares personal memories that have meaning — significant moments in time that shaped her. It’s these experiences and Shelby’s love of learning that, in part, resulted in her being honored as the 2012 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year. When Shelby won the honor, she taught fourth grade at Sallie Gillentine Elementary in the onestoplight city of Hollis, tucked in the southwest corner of Oklahoma. The 18-year teaching veteran has since moved to the city’s middle school, where she teaches seventh- and eighth-grade English. Shelby, a 1994 elementary education graduate, and her husband, Trent, who teaches and coaches football at the high school, have 13-year-old twin daughters, an 11-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son. They own a farm with 1,000 head of cattle. “We just lead a very active life,” she says. “It’s a good little life.” In September, shortly before the 2013 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year — OSU alumna Elaine Hutchison — was announced, STATE editor Michael Baker spoke with Shelby about her mentors, time at OSU and the state of education in Oklahoma. Shelby had plenty of stories to tell.
Was there anything about your childhood that led you into teaching? My first true teachers were my parents. They instilled in me the importance of an education. They always told me, “No one can ever take your education away.” Then I had a third-grade teacher by the name of Linda Green, and she was amazing. She laughed with us. She talked with us. She let us think outside the box. She was the first person who introduced me to cauliflower dipped in a little
bit of ranch dressing. Still today, when I eat cauliflower dipped in a little ranch dressing, I think of Linda Green. She told me I was a bright, shining star. She told me I could do anything I wanted to do. She believed in me, and I knew it. When you got older, were there things that kept leading you into teaching? I wanted to be a sports broadcaster. … At high school career advisement, I had a teacher whom looked at me and pretty much laughed at me, and
KRISTIN SHELBY photo / mitch harrison
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