Friday's Internet Edition, August 08, 2008.
Cove native Hodges recieves Excellence in Education award.
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| Kate Rogers, left, and Charles Butt present Jody Hodges the $10,000 award for Educator of the Year. Hodges was honored during an awards ceremony in Austin last month. – Courtesy Photo |
News editor - When Jody Hodges received the 2004 H-E-B Excellence in Education Award, she thought of her own teachers while growing up.
“I’m so very proud to have been chosen one of the recipients of the H.E.B. Excellence in Education Awards and I accepted with gratitude and a deep sense of humility.” Hodges said. “I fully realize I wouldn’t have been recognized without the inspiration of my own teachers from Copperas Cove like Mrs. Elliott (2nd grade-Halstead), Mrs. Hall (5th grade), Sarah Straley and John Noel, (8th grade).”
Hodges was born at Fort Hood and attended all of her school years in Copperas Cove where she graduated in 1977.
From there she attended college at Central Texas College and Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos where she received her teaching certificate.
Hodges, who is now a teacher herself in Aledo, received the $10,000 award on June 11 in a gala awards ceremony in Austin.
“I am so very grateful for the team spirit of my colleagues in Aledo ISD,” Hodges said. “The creative license afforded me buy my administrators, the support from my student’s parents, and the personal sacrifices of my family, especially my mom, Daphne Hughes.”
Along with the personal check, Aledo Middle School also received a $10,000 grant.
Hodges was one of nine winners selected from among 45 statewide finalists.
“If you have a great teacher, you have a great class. If you have a great principal, you have a great school. It seems simple, but it’s one of the most challenging issues faced by our public schools: how to recruit and retain the best professionals in the business,” Kate Rogers, director of public affairs for H-E-B, said. “Hodges is clearly one of the best and we are proud to honor her for her many accomplishments.”
According to colleagues from Aledo Middle School, Hodges has gone the extra mile to make science fun. Hodges classroom is filled with tarantulas, iguanas, and rabbits. One activity that students look forward to each year is the “Guts T-shirt”, where students color a T-shirt that depicts human organs in the appropriate places.
Debbie Mantooth, an Aledo teacher, wrote in a letter of recommendation, “Watching Jody Hodges teach her classes has made me a better teacher…She has a gift for reaching the students…Jody loves teaching middle school and it shows.”
Last year, Hodges started an interdisciplinary project with the entire seventh grade and “The Great American Smoke Out.”
Students raised $15,000 for the American Cancer Society. Hodges, working with the other seventh grade teachers, headed the entire project.
Hodges, along with the other finalists, received an all-expense-paid three-day trip to Austin. Finalists stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel, participated in interviews with a statewide selection committee, took part in an educational forum and attended a special reception in their honor at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.
Hodges and more than 400 educators and community and business leaders from across the state of Texas gathered for the awards ceremony that included a surprise musical performance by Texas artists Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison and a special tribute video.
Each of the nine overall winners were presented with a check for themselves and a school grant ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 based on their years of experience in the classroom.
In 2004, H-E-B presented more than $420,000 in cash and grants, making the Excellence in Education Awards the largest monetary awards program for educators in the state.
Now in its third year, the response to the program from teachers, administrators and the community has been tremendous. In order to find the best teachers and principals in Texas, H-E-B began by asking customers, partners (employees) and community members to submit the names of their favorite educators.
This year, H-E-B received more than 4,000 nominations. H-E-B sent each nominee an application packet asking them to share their professional experience, educational philosophy and achievements both in and out of the classroom.
A team of judges read the applications from the College of Education at Trinity University in San Antonio who faced the task of narrowing the field to 225 semi-finalists. These 150 teachers and 75 principals went on to compete in the regional judging process in April.
Five regional judging panels comprised of former winners, administrators, and university and community leaders selected the 45 overall finalists.
The finalists were notified at their schools with a surprise visit by the H-E-B prize patrol during the week of May 3, National Teacher Appreciation Week.
The teachers were each awarded a $1,000 check for themselves plus a $1,000 grant for their schools. The principals were awarded a $1,000 check for themselves plus a $2,500 grant for their schools.