‘It’s my joy’: CMS teacher of the year channels passion in Villa Heights classroom
.jpg "Villa Heights Elementary School Teacher Imee Idjao was named the 2022 CMS Teacher of the Year. Here she teaches students in her classroom.")
The walls in Imee Idjao’s classroom at Villa Heights Elementary School are full of colorful charts and characters — a sort of wonderland for third-graders.
It mirrors a lesson Idjao makes sure her students learn: to embrace diversity. And at the door they can leave any sense of entitlement.
“If they come in complaining about the drive to school or the breakfast they had or this and that, I‘ll show them videos of the Philippines,” Idjao said. “I’ll tell them how some students there have to walk miles upon miles to get to school. Or if they don’t like an eraser and they want to throw it away, you know what some students in remote parts of the Philippines have to use as erasers? The bottoms of their rubber slippers.”
Idjao, who came to the United States in 2010 from the Philippines, is in her first year teaching in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. She was named the 2022 CMS Teacher of the Year last week. Dotha Howell, a teacher assistant at Reid Park Academy, was named the 2022 CMS Teacher Assistant of the Year at the same ceremony.
“Since the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Idjao has kept her focus on the growth of every student in her classroom,” said Joyce Fullington, the principal of Villa Heights Elementary. “In Mrs. Idjao’s classroom, it is easy to see her passion for teaching and learning. That’s why she is a great teacher.”
It’s the ‘little joys’
Idjao, 41, is married and has two children. The family enjoys the outdoors, especially going on walks and zip-lining. Idjao grew up in the Philippines and chose teaching because she saw how much her sisters enjoyed the profession.
She has three older sisters who are teachers in the Philippines — one is already a principal. Idjao is the youngest of six.
She received her bachelor’s degree from Philippine Normal University in Manila and master’s degrees from Philippine Normal and Central Luzon State University in the Philippines before landing a teaching job in 2001 at Southville International School and Colleges in the Philippines. She taught at the school until August 2010, when she moved to North Carolina and taught at New Century International Elementary School in Fayetteville.
For Idjao, the best parts of teaching are the “little joys” from the classroom such as a thank you note from a student or a parent.
She turns to American poet and activist Maya Angelou as motivation.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,” Idjao told CMS officials when named the teacher of the year finalist for the Northeast Learning Community. “I remember teachers who were supportive or encouraging, teachers who challenged me and made me think. My fifth-grade teacher saw something in me that I didn’t even know. And what does that give me? Confidence.”
Idjao taught at the Sallie B. Howard School of Arts & Science in Wilson, a 2021 National Blue Ribbon School, from August 2015 until June before coming to CMS.
“I am grateful for all of the people who walk beside me every day,” she said of her 2022 Teacher of the Year award. Idjao was one of six finalists. “I’m grateful for all of the opportunities I’ve gotten.”
Teachers are ‘agents of change’
Gratitude and grit are other lessons Idjao guarantees her students learn in her classroom.
“It’s OK to make mistakes,” she said. “You make mistakes and you move on and become stronger. I want my students to learn that.”
Idjao says her goal is to “shine a light on students’ strengths and help them see the special qualities they might not know they have.” She says teachers are agents of change, and she’s proud to be that agent of change.
“She seeks out opportunities to develop her teaching practices, implementing her new learning in the classroom to the benefit of her students,” Fullington said.
While teachers locally and across the country are leaving the field — the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated normal pressures educators face in the classroom — Idjao said the profession is her heart and soul.
“Whenever the demands of teachers increase, I always go back to the ‘why’ — why did I choose to do this,” she said. “Because I love what I do. I love my classes. I love my students. It’s not always going to be easy, but it’s my joy.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
