Shirley Phillips, a prekindergarten teacher at Lindbergh Early Childhood Education, recently was named the Lindbergh School District’s Teacher of the Year for 2009-2010.
A teacher for 22 years with the early childhood center, Phillips is well-known by families for her interdisciplinary units like Chinese New Year, farms and author studies, according to a district news release. In her “Piglet” room, Phillips encourages children to explore. She helps develop character by teaching respect, responsibility and manners through everyday learning experiences.
“Mrs. Phillips regularly engages families in classroom learning experiences and invites them to be an integral part of those experiences,” states a nomination letter from a parent. “She consistently demonstrates genuine caring and respect for her students and guides them in developing positive traits.”
The youngest of five children, Phillips credits her mother as her “inspiration to become a teacher. She was a teacher in China. Back then, you didn’t need to have all the education you do now. She just taught children; it wasn’t a grade, just children.”
Her mother’s influence was also felt by Phillips’ sister, who teaches at Barnes-Jewish Hospital child care, and her brothers, who have degrees in education.
In becoming a teacher, Phillips also wanted to help children learn more about diversity.
“I was ridiculed as a child for being Asian. There weren’t many Asians in my neighborhood back then. I wanted to help make a difference when I grew up,” she stated.
Philips taught kindergarten for seven years before working for Lindbergh. She received both her bachelor’s degree in education and her master’s degree in education from Missouri Baptist University.
Asked why she went into early childhood education, Phillips stated in the release, “Well, I love it. I have always loved being with the little ones. Growing up, there were a lot of kids in our neighborhood and we always played school.”
At the end of the school year when her teacher cleaned out her desk and gave away all sorts of things, “I was always happy to take them so I could play school at home.”
Phillips has been praised for nurturing “the individual child by developing educational lessons that interactively support a variety of learning styles.”
She has received the Kathryn Nelson Early Childhood Scholarship and has been named the St. Louis Association for the Young Child Early Childhood Educator of the Year.
The Lindbergh School District, and families alike, view Phillips as completely dedicated to her teaching profession and a worthy recipient of the Teacher of the Year honor, according to the news release.
