LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Tasha Kirby was nominated anonymously.

Mrs. Kirby is student-centered, an out-of-the-box thinker, and innovative! She consistently focuses on student engagement and learning with hands-on and hyper-local projects. She starts the school year with a food sustainability unit that asks students to pick and use local berries to make homemade jam. This evolves into a discussion about the importance of buying local food items with minimal processing, packaging, and transportation costs.

During this unit, students are given fresh, locally picked apples as a daily snack and make fresh-pressed apple cider to fully understand how every part of a fruit can be used without being wasted. These activities serve as a springboard for a year filled with hands-on, real-world learning opportunities that help students develop critical thinking skills and an appreciation for the natural world. Some of the activities that take place in Mrs. Kirby's classroom include:

• Making ice cream to explore states of matter
• Building earthquake-resistant structures to mitigate natural disasters
• Working to understand how 228,000 plastic bath toys lost at sea traveled to beaches all over the world
• Collecting data and troubleshooting hatching duck eggs, and
• Designing piñatas to show understanding of force and motion concepts

Mrs. Kirby empowers students to understand the world around them while providing learning experiences that will be remembered for years to come.

In addition to developing engaging activities, Mrs. Kirby understands that building strong relationships with students has a direct impact on student achievement. She checks in weekly with all students using a self-designed form called a "Touch-base Tuesday." Responses on these forms enable Mrs. Kirby to follow up with students about home concerns, friendship issues, grades, missing work, and suggestions for improving the classroom community.

Mrs. Kirby also conducts student interviews during the first quarter of the school year. These interviews help Mrs. Kirby get to know her students and support them in and outside the classroom. Students have repeatedly reported appreciating having voice and choice in Mrs. Kirby's classroom. 

Ultimately, Mrs. Kirby is dedicated to fostering genuine connections with the local community. Guest speakers who can provide insight into real-life occupations and experiences are a common occurrence in Mrs. Kirby's classroom, including the owner of Lopez Island Creamery, an elder from the Samish Indian Nation, the Director of Natural Resources from the Swinomish Indian Nation, a materials engineer from Janicki, a NOAA oceanographer, and a community farmer. Student learning is deepened and enhanced when they can learn from experts in the field.

Below are a few recent emails sent to Mrs. Kirby:

"Dear Ms. Kirby, It's Teacher Appreciation Week, and I thought of you. I would like to thank you for everything you do for us. I can tell how much you care about us...In your class, you push me to become the best student I can be and have helped me always strive for my best, rather than just doing what I know will earn me a good grade. Another thing I would like to thank you for is your effort to get to know your students. From the very first day in your class, I could tell you genuinely cared. Every time I email you with a question, you give me a good answer that helps me with whatever I need help with, and you also talk to me in person. You touch base on Tuesdays and reach out when students have questions. On Valentine's Day, you took the time to write a note to every student, which shows that you care about us...I hope you know how much everyone will appreciate you as a teacher, whether that's now or in many years when they realize everything you do for us and how much you care."

"I just wanted to share that I spent a couple of minutes in Tasha Kirby's science class today. The students participated in a reader's theater, where they had to devise a plot/theatrical element that helped explain their part of the scientific topic. It was magical. I could tell how much thought went into it for the students, and they were extremely well-rehearsed. Their contributions were creative and helped enhance the information."

"Mrs. Kirby, I have been wanting to reach out to you for a while to let you know how much my daughter has enjoyed Science this year, but I just haven't made time to do so. My daughter has expressed pride in feedback you've given her, motivation to improve, and overall interest in the topic you've covered. We received the Soroptimist letter yesterday that included your heartfelt words written about my daughter. We are proud of her and the hard work she has put in, and I wanted to share how touched we were by your authentic and descriptive writing. Thank you for encouraging kindness and caring. The extra mile you go to reach out to students does not go unnoticed. Those notes do trickle home, and the words you speak do get repeated at dinner tables. My daughter has repeatedly told us that you're good at noticing everyone. I just wanted to express my gratitude."