The 2013 Collinsville Teacher of the Year could be forgiven if she thought the actual presentation of her award was a little anticlimactic compared to the notification that she had won.

Chamber Board Member Carrie Cushing (right) presents the Teacher of the Year to Carol McFall. Kreitner Elementary School Principal Todd Pettit (left) is with McFall / Photo by Rick Owens

When a special assembly was called at Kreitner Elementary School, Carol McFall had no idea that she was the guest of honor. Principal Todd Pettit told McFall that she had won the teacher of the year award with all of the school and staff looking on. A big cheer went up for McFall when Pettit made the announcement. “I was very honored and surprised,” she said.

The award was officially presented to McFall at the Collinsville Chamber of Commerce’s annual Community Awards and Auction dinner on Oct. 19.

McFall earned the honor in part for her work organizing and helping to implement a new reading program, a system to track students’ progress while at Kreitner and the school’s recycling program. “She is a teacher who continually gives of herself over and above the typical expectations of her job duties,” Pettit said.

Kreitner has tried various reading programs over the years, McFall, a 22-year teacher at the school, said. About five years ago, she found a program designed for struggling readers that she helped incorporate into the regular 4th grade curriculum at Kreitner. The school has noticed that students are more engaged with the new program and show enthusiasm for the library books and computer programs that come with the program, McFall said.

McFall also helped to implement a program to track students reading performance and on performance on the assessments they take while at the school. Kreitner now tracks their students’ reading growth by charting and analyzing their scores. Under McFall’s guidance, the school has also developed data charts for every student for each assessment taken.

The recycling program McFall implemented has become “part of the fabric of the school and the community,” Pettit said. Parents will come to the school to recycle even outside of the school year, Pettit said.

“That same type of dedication she shows for the recycling program, she is dedicated in the same way to each individual student,” Pettit said.