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The Texas Teacher of the Year program began in 1969 as a way
to recognize and celebrate excellence in teaching. All school districts participate in the
program. Within Region 4 there are 54
school districts. There are a total of
20 Regions in the state. Each year one
elementary and one secondary teacher are chosen from each region. From the 40 regional selections, 6 teachers
are selected to compete for the Texas Teacher of the Year. On Oct. 29, the 2 teachers selected as
Teacher of the Year and all regional finalists will be honored at the Annual
Academic Recognition Banquet in
“Being named Secondary Teacher of the Year for our district
is an honor and I appreciate it, but I am always seeking to be better,”
Hedstrom said.
Hedstrom is never satisfied with the conventional wisdom of
teaching, “I am always questioning, I am always revising my program, I like to
challenge my thinking,” he added.
“In college I thought I wanted to be an engineer, but then I
decided that I really wanted to be a teacher.
Originally I thought about teaching Spanish, but changed my mind. I decided on math because people have
difficulty with math and I thought I could make a difference,” he said.
“The key to teaching math is elusive. I try to present situations that the students
can see for themselves. I teach advance
placement calculus and statistics.
Calculus is classical math, statistics challenges the students
thinking,” Hedstrom said.
“Hedstrom is very popular with his students because he never
gives up on them. Even though advanced
calculus and statistics are difficult subjects, he finds a way to help his
students comprehend the subject and succeed.
The top 5 percent students, at
A native of
Region 4 Secondary Teacher of the Year, Erik Hedstrom with two of his top students. Left to right: Abishek Sadhu, Hedstrom and Sarah Krusleski.
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