Dolores Cortes is all humility when it comes to her nomination as Canyon Elementary’s 2024 Teacher of the Year. 

 

“This is a really special school with such incredible people,” she said. “Any one of them deserved this award. I am just so grateful to be here. It’s a fantastic place.” 

 

Cortes teaches Special Education at the school and has spent nineteen years teaching in the Cache County School District, Weber County, and southern Idaho. 

 

“It’s just what I want to do,” she said. “When I was in high school, I was a teacher’s assistant in a Special Education classroom. And after I graduated, she had me as an aide. I worked with her for two years, and watching her touch countless kids’ lives, I just felt that being with kids was all I wanted to do!” 

 

“Dolores is an amazing advocate for students,” Canyon Principal Leslie Burt said. “She is a true professional with a caring heart. It doesn’t matter if she is working with a student, parent, teacher, or staff - she communicates compassion. Dolores is always working hard behind the scenes to support students and teachers. She is a vital piece of our Canyon team - she is truly one in a million!”

 

While she enjoys working with students regardless of the subject, she holds a special place in her heart for math. 

 

“I love it,” Cortes said. “It’s my favorite subject. I especially love using math manipulatives because it just helps solidify those math concepts for them.” 

 

   

 

During a recent visit to Cortes' classroom, students working at her table used place value blocks to create numbers of varying sizes. A fourth-grader lit up when using one-hundred-unit blocks to build the number 1,000. 

 

“Yes!” he said, giving his teacher a high-five. “I did it!” 

 

“When I’m looking at them and I can tell, ‘Okay, this is hard for you. You’re not getting this,’ I just think, ‘How can I teach this? What can I do to make it easier for you?’" Cortes explained. "And then, when they get it, just seeing it click and seeing the kids happy - it’s incredible.”