Congratulations to Jeremy Ralphs, the Teacher of the Year at Canyon Elementary!
Since 2005, Canyon Elementary has been fortunate to have Jeremy Ralphs as a part of their faculty. Ralphs is a favorite of the students at Canyon and has been selected as the 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year for Canyon Elementary.
Ralphs was inspired to pursue a career as a teacher because of his mother and her legacy. When he was 14 years old, she passed away from cancer. Throughout the rest of his childhood, countless people would tell him about the impact his mother had on them when they were in her classroom. As a result, Ralphs had a desire to continue this legacy in his own classroom one day.
In his first year of teaching, Ralphs made the decision that he would use lunchtime and recess to develop more personal connections with his students. For 12 years, Ralphs has eaten lunch with his students and played games at recess with them, which he says gives the students a chance to see him on a different level. “I learn what their favorite movies are, what they did over the weekend, and what they love to do. Then, in the classroom, they respect me enough to do the hard things that I ask them to do. I will eat and play with my students until the day I hang up my teaching shoes,” Ralphs said.
Principal Stacie Williamson feels lucky to have Ralphs as a part of her team at Canyon because of his efforts with the students. “He is a student-favorite who works hard to develop relationships with each of his students. We often call him the ‘Book Whisperer’ as he is able to get many students to enjoy reading who have hated it before their year with him,” said Williamson.
Ralphs said his main goal is for his students to know how much he cares about them. Ralph explained, “I’m humbled by what students have to go through and I hope that I can be half the person that these young fourth graders are. I will always do whatever I can to have a relationship with these amazing students. ”