Teachers work hard and not just in the classroom. Their efforts and their accomplishments aren’t usually realized until the job is done and their pupils ascend to their next phase in life.

When former Aberdeen student Milo Holt found out Tuesday morning, March 8, that Aberdeen School District named its Teacher of the Year for 2021-22, she had a feeling who it was and that person taught at McDermoth Elementary School.

Holt, who attended school at McDermoth, then asked who the teacher was. When she found out it was Lisa Templeton, a third grade teacher at McDermoth, she showed her excitement with joyous glee.

“Oh, I love her!” said Holt, a barista at Tinderbox Roasters in Aberdeen who is also pursuing an automotive degree at Grays Harbor College.

Holt was excited for Templeton, since it was Templeton who taught Holt how to improve her reading when she was in third grade in 2011.

As a student entering third grade, Holt said she started the school year at a second-grade level. And then Mrs. Templeton stepped in.

“With Mrs. Templeton, she taught me how to push myself and to be a better reader,” Holt said. “I didn’t really know how to read very well and I didn’t really want to push myself, because I felt like there was no reason to.”

Templeton taught her that with words she didn’t really understand then, there was the dictionary.

“I’d look those (words) up and get a better understanding,” she said.

Holt said she finished the year with a fourth or fifth grade reading level at the end of her third grade year.

“She inspired me to do better and I don’t think I could be where I am today without her,” Holt said.

When Templeton heard Holt remembered her, her face lit up.

“That means so much to me,” she said. “That’s the best part of my job.”

That’s one thing students don’t forget, a good teacher. Templeton agreed.

“I think that’s one of the reasons why I became a teacher,” she said. “I was so impacted by teachers in my own life who made a significant difference in how I felt as a human being, just in the encouragement that they offered and in their belief that I could accomplish things. I wanted to make that same impact on others.”

Templeton, who spoke to The Daily World on March 8 inside her school’s library, said how she keeps in touch with so many of her former students.

“It means so much to me to see what they’re doing with their lives these days,” Templeton said.

Templeton said another one of her former students, who she called “Little Artemis,” once cried during his summer break when he found out he wasn’t going to be in her class anymore.

Templeton said she recently checked in on one of her favorite former students, who’s currently pursuing a college degree in Estonia. The former student let Templeton know he’s OK. Estonia is a little less than 800 miles from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

“I was so worried when I (found out) about all the upheaval (that) started in Ukraine,” she said. “I checked on him right away and he assures me he’s safe. It’s wonderful to have technology to be able to reach out to people easily.”

As a teacher, Templeton is responsible for helping students improve their writing, reading, math, social studies, science and art skills.

When the lessons get tougher, Templeton tries her best to keep the students motivated, because school isn’t always easy.

“We work hard on teaching kids to have a growth mindset,” she said. “We teach them to realize that as humans we’re gonna make mistakes, we’re gonna mess up and that failure is how we learn, (so) we need to keep trying.

Templeton talked a little about how hard it has been to teach online throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Online teaching was extremely challenging and frustrating for everyone I think,” she said. “You cannot build the same relationship with them that you can in a classroom. They can just click and exit. There’s no motivation for them to want to keep working and doing their best if they’re sitting in front of a computer all day.”

Templeton said she thinks it’s the in-person relationship piece of teaching in a classroom that makes students want to do their best.

“It was just so frustrating to see them on a screen and not be able to build that community,” she said. “It’s so much better in person. I’m so glad we’re at school. That’s where the (students) need to be.”

Bryan McKinney, principal for the last four years at McDermoth Elementary School, nominated Templeton for the district-wide award with a letter that referred to Templeton as a beacon.

“It is hard to imagine any light shining brighter than Mrs. Templeton for our students here in Aberdeen, Washington,” the letter states.

McKinney described Templeton as a teacher who is never finished learning and reflecting on how to make a positive impact for her students.

For Templeton, who calculated that approximately 825 students have learned under her tutelage for the past 33 years, she said her students are her family.

“My family is so big now (with) all those kids,” she said. “I just love them all. I have former students who are teachers in the district. Some have gone on to medical careers, some engineering, some work at stores in town. I just love all my former kids. I think all teachers would say the same.”

However, Templeton doesn’t seem to recognize what she does is anything special, because it’s what the job requires.

“I really don’t believe I do anything extraordinary, but I am proud to represent all the hard-working colleagues who I work with,” she said. “There are so many phenomenal educators all around me.”

She said every teacher she knows really wants to do the best they can for children.

“I believe I just do the best I can, like all the other teachers I know,” she said. “I guess doing it for 30 years counts for something.”