More Resources American Stars of Teaching

Good morning. Thank you all for coming. Thank you, Principal Bailey for inviting me here.

What an amazing group of students. I have enjoyed meeting all of you. You are a credit to Huntington and to the state of West Virginia. I'm proud of you. And I know your parents and teachers are proud, too.

Boys and girls, when you are learning, amazing things happen. Education is the key to success in the future. Every book you read makes you stronger. Mathematics expands your horizons and trains the mind. Every fact is a tool. Every class fills you with information. And every year of school contributes to your maturity, your wisdom, and your life. With education, you are given the civilization of thousands of years of discovery, entrusted with a legacy of learning, collected for your use to prepare you for the future. Your education will enable you to assume great responsibility, to make decisions that will ripple out for generations to come, and to help build a compassionate, tolerant, and wise country.

Sometimes it is hard to see the cumulative effect. But day by day, year by year, you become better prepared for your destiny. One poet said this about his own life: "I took the tides of men into my hands, and wrote my will across the sky in stars." Someday you will write your own story in the stars.

Education is about sharing knowledge and experience. Your time and your education are an investment in your future. And you should know that everyone wants you to succeed: your parents, your teachers, the people of Huntington, and people all across America. You may not realize this, but there is a large, dedicated, and dynamic group of people who are working for you every single day.

I'm pleased to see so many teachers here today. You give so much. Frankly, I think you have the toughest job in America; but you also have one of the most rewarding. I know how hard you work, how much time it takes to prepare, and the many sacrifices you make. I was a teacher, too. So were my parents.

But the rewards are magnificent. When a student learns, a teacher smiles. When students are well educated, the hard work is worth it. Every individual success is a source of joy and satisfaction. When that success is multiplied over time and even over tears, then there is no greater reward. Teaching is a life of dedicated commitment, of selfless service, of sharing knowledge, and of sharing the self.

My mother was an elementary school teacher. In our house, teaching was considered the noblest profession of all. It symbolized scholarship, service, compassion, and wisdom.

When I was a young man, my mother reminded me of the great Americans who were teachers: John Adams, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Woodrow Wilson, Ralph Bunche, and so many others. America was originally a vision, conceived by teachers like Benjamin Franklin, George Mason, and Thomas Jefferson. This country was built by educators like Daniel Webster, Andrew Jackson, and John Dewey. Our nation's economic power is the product of generation after generation of talented teachers.

Teachers are national and community leaders. And we witnessed a powerful testimony of that leadership over the past few weeks. Our nation has been battered by a series of hurricanes, tornados, and floods that have affected millions of people, some of them right here in West Virginia. I want you to know my Department is doing everything it can to provide relief. So are the president and all the departments and agencies in our nation's capital.

In times of crisis, millions of Americans have always come forward. That's how we are ... people who don't fear danger and who triumph over tragedy. Many teachers have always stepped forward. Teachers have been among the first to help in evacuation efforts, to fill sandbags, to shuttle the elderly to shelters, to provide emergency services, and to console those in need. I've heard stories of teachers who have calmed the fears of their students, who have called parents to make sure students were safe, who have restructured lesson plans to enable students to resume their studies, and who have walked back into shattered or soaked classrooms, picked up an overturned desk, and begun the process of welcoming students back to our schools, our citadels of learning.

The American school system must become and remain the best in the world. We need all of our students to excel, not just some. The president wants to raise all public and private schools to the highest levels of scholarship and motivation. The essential first step is the No Child Left Behind law, because it makes education more inclusive, fair, and successful. It makes schools put qualified teachers in the classrooms in all schools, public and private. Schools now must teach all students. The name of the law is also a promise: no child will be left behind.

President Bush and Congress want you to have the resources you need. They have provided an unprecedented $16.1 billion in federal funding since 2001, to support the teaching profession. You should also know that the president has set federal education spending for fiscal year 2005 at $57 billion, a 36 percent increase since he assumed office. For West Virginia, this means $758 million, or 46 percent more than when he came to office.

Ladies and gentlemen, I applaud your excellence in teaching and your commitment to education. Together, we can improve the education system to meet the needs of every child--every single one.

One way that we can work together is to recognize powerful, inspiring contributions to teaching. The Department conducted a Teacher-to-Teacher initiative to get feedback from teachers and to help teachers share their teaching strategies and experiences. That has been a vital contribution to our national reform efforts.

I know that there is a long history of accomplishment by teachers at Spring Hill. You are recognized community leaders and respected voices of wise council.

Today I have come from Washington to recognize one teacher as an American Star of Teaching. This recognition is given to a select few ... the teachers who are using innovative classroom strategies to make a profound difference for their students, regardless of the challenges they face. These are educators who have significantly raised student achievement, who are extraordinary teachers in the classroom, who are helping to close the achievement gap, who were nominated by their peers, and who were selected by a committee of teachers at the Department of Education.

Proudly, all of us recognize the accomplishments of one of your third-grade teachers, Jennifer Walton.

Jennifer, please come forward. On behalf of President Bush and the American people, I am honored to present this American Star of Teaching recognition to you. You well-deserve this award.

Please join me in thanking Jennifer.

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