Ogden named Teacher of the Year
Rayville High School math teacher Emily Odgen of is the 2020 High School Teacher of the Year.
The Louisiana Department of Education announced the 2020 Louisiana Teacher and Principal of the Year on Friday night at the 13th Annual Cecil J. Picard Educator Awards Gala.
“It’s very surreal,” Odgen said. “As a teacher, you get used to kind of being in the shadows. You don’t expect a lot of recognition.”
She credits much of her success as an educator to developing a relationship with her students.
“I feel like I make my classroom about more than learning math,” Ogden said. “I try to build a relationship with each student.”
She feels that enables her to keep them motivated as well as being aware of whatever challenges they might face. She says the students also know that she knows what they are capable of doing and won’t drop her expectations.
“They know they’ve got to be here giving 100 percent because I’m here giving 100 percent,” Ogden said.
Ogden said teaching has also been her first calling. After graduating from Rayville High School in 2001, she attended college with the intention of becoming a teacher before leaving school a year early and working in retail until the age of 28. Through it all, she still felt the calling to teach and so she returned to school and graduated at the age of 30.
She’s been teaching ever since. This year, Ogden will be moving to Start Elementary for the upcoming year to take on the challenge of being the new assistant principal.
The process for selecting a Louisiana Teachers of the Year begins at the local level. Each school within every public or public charter school district is eligible to select a Teacher of the Year subject to their own selection criteria. Those individual local school nominations are sent to the District level for further review and consideration.
This year, school systems submitted more than 200 nominations for Teacher and Principal of the Year. The Department named 48 semifinalists in April 2019. A state team then narrowed that pool to 18 finalists.