Source: Union Public Schools
Ellen Ochoa media specialist Kirby Mackenzie has been named the 2023-2024 District Teacher of the Year for Union Public Schools. The announcement was made this afternoon as professional development activities came to an end across the district.
Superintendent Dr. Kirt Hartzler, Associate Superintendent Charlie Bushyhead, Assistant Superintendent Sandi Calvin, and Deputy Superintendent John Federline joined others as they congratulated Mackenzie on her selection, following a special presentation that recognized all the Site Teachers of the Year. Teachers around the district watched the news on a live Youtube video: https://youtu.be/vgAcyrs0Xjw.
Mackenzie started teaching in 2009 at McAuliffe and moved to Ellen Ochoa Elementary when it opened it 2017.
“I continue to teach in Oklahoma because Oklahoma students deserve the world,” she said. “As a Union lifer, I used to dream of coming back to Union to make an impact in this community, the same way so many Union teachers did for me. With the number of our students who have lives and stories that are just so hard, sometimes it can feel overwhelming; like no matter how hard we work, we can’t make up for everything that is stacked against them.
“The reality is, while we may not be able to fix everything, or make their lives easier, we have strategies to help them become successful despite life’s many hardships.
“We have the privilege of teaching them to become readers, writers, thinkers, builders, and kind humans who take care of themselves and others. We get to be the best teachers we can, because every single kid deserves a great teacher every single day. Not every day is easy, and probably more days than not, I cry at some point, but it is always worth it.”
Mackenzie said the unique experience of being in the library “and getting to know every student and every family and watching students grow from little siblings in diapers (or even in utero!), into incoming Pre K-ers, to graduating fifth graders, to later visiting as young adults is worth every challenge and heartbreak. When they grow up and come back to visit and share special memories from elementary school that I know I was a part of planning or executing, it reminds me how important it is to provide those same special experiences, lessons, and memories for the students in front of me today. Teaching is who I am. When people ask me if I have kids, my response is always ‘just the 900 of them at my school!’ While I know being their teacher doesn’t really make them my kids, I try to never take for granted how special and impactful of a role it is and how important it is to continue to show up for all of them each day.”
Read-alouds are her favorite activities.
“There are so many magic moments waiting to be experienced within the pages of stories; when a classroom full of students is listening with eyes wide and rapt attention to find out what happens next at a peak turning point in a book, when they are squeal giggling at how funny something is or at the outlandish voice I am using, and especially when we are all wiping tears from our eyes because we have connected so emotionally to a story. Adding connecting projects, costumes, or art is always a fun bonus, but the experience of collectively sharing a beloved book together is enough in and of itself and has provided so many of my favorite moments in teaching,” she said.
Mackenzie has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Oklahoma State University and a master’s in library information science from the University of Oklahoma.
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