ALEDO, Ill -
For more than twenty years, News 8 has held the "My Favorite Teacher" contest where we salute teachers and students in Iowa and Illinois. Our first of five stories starts in Mercer County where a teacher found a home in the Fifth Grade more than 30 years ago.
"Mr. Millar, you're My Favorite Teacher," said Brandon Butcher as he brought a trophy into the classroom he once sat in during Michael Millar's Literature and Social Studies classes at Aledo's Apollo Elementary School
Brandon's timing could have been better.
Afterall, how often do you get to interrupt a classroom of students in the middle of taking a test?
"That's all right, we'll be able to get them back on track."
"I respect and pick him as My Favorite Teacher because during his teaching, he not only taught his main subject, he also threw other mini-lessons into it to make us just overall smarter," said Brandon as he read his nominating letter to Mr. Millar.
"Mr. Millar taught me to care for my education and to express myself in writing."
To a fifth grade Social Studies and literature teacher, there can be no higher praise. Especially after more than 30 years teaching children in this grade.
"I landed in Fifth Grade and stayed because of the kids, and the content," said Millar.
Millar is leaving his imprint on generations of Aledo students. One book at a time, one lesson at a time.
And not every lesson about his course on the Wild West is written on paper with ink.
"We'll have a chance to live on that Nebraska Territory for eight years," he explained to his classroom as he explained their next lesson which recreates living as a homesteader.
"We'll see if you're going to survive or if you'll starve to death," he kidded them.
"There wasn't really one moment, it was throughout the whole grade," Brandon explained when asked why he nominated his fifth grade teacher.
Mike Millar says it comes down to a philosophy from Albert Einstein: imagination is more important than knowledge.
"So that's what I want the kids to do: to use that imagination to move forward and they're going to shape the world."
"Mr. Millar, you're My Favorite Teacher," said Brandon Butcher as he brought a trophy into the classroom he once sat in during Michael Millar's Literature and Social Studies classes at Aledo's Apollo Elementary School
Brandon's timing could have been better.
Afterall, how often do you get to interrupt a classroom of students in the middle of taking a test?
"That's all right, we'll be able to get them back on track."
"I respect and pick him as My Favorite Teacher because during his teaching, he not only taught his main subject, he also threw other mini-lessons into it to make us just overall smarter," said Brandon as he read his nominating letter to Mr. Millar.
"Mr. Millar taught me to care for my education and to express myself in writing."
To a fifth grade Social Studies and literature teacher, there can be no higher praise. Especially after more than 30 years teaching children in this grade.
"I landed in Fifth Grade and stayed because of the kids, and the content," said Millar.
Millar is leaving his imprint on generations of Aledo students. One book at a time, one lesson at a time.
And not every lesson about his course on the Wild West is written on paper with ink.
"We'll have a chance to live on that Nebraska Territory for eight years," he explained to his classroom as he explained their next lesson which recreates living as a homesteader.
"We'll see if you're going to survive or if you'll starve to death," he kidded them.
"There wasn't really one moment, it was throughout the whole grade," Brandon explained when asked why he nominated his fifth grade teacher.
Mike Millar says it comes down to a philosophy from Albert Einstein: imagination is more important than knowledge.
"So that's what I want the kids to do: to use that imagination to move forward and they're going to shape the world."
