By LINDA WOO, WEA Communications 

A few students read quietly in cubbyholes; others listen to tapes as they follow along in their beginning chapter books.

A few minutes later a student, obviously in distress, walks into the room to tell her teacher that she has 24 hours to find a place to live and storms out.

It isn't even 9:30 a.m.

But the events that day are nothing Sue Barnard hasn't encountered before. And they won't be the last.

"Every day you kind of have to come in here and assume you've got to do your very best job that day because you might not see every one of those kids again ... that's the reality of this place," says Barnard, a language arts and reading teacher at CHOICE Alternative High School in Shelton.

Named as Washington's 2006 Teacher of the Year, Barnard works with some of the most challenging students. Many have been squeezed by poverty, hurt by violence or forced to grow up too fast because of teen pregnancy. Some have dropped out or lag far behind their classmates in credits and grades; others have simply grown bored by a traditional school setting that doesn't touch their lives.

"I am humbled to represent the families of the students who face all kinds of challenging issues. I feel as if I'm an advocate for students who truly wrestle with school and all that school encompasses," Barnard says.

"I also feel like I am an advocate for parents, some who care a great deal but don't have a clue how to help their kids in school, and some who sadly don't care about education at all," Barnard says. "They care about their kids, but they don't care if their kids are educated."

Barnard runs the school's reading lab where she and educational assistants help tutor individual students using the Read Right program, a reading program originally used by Mason County Literacy, where she volunteered more than a decade ago. (It was through Mason County Literacy that she found CHOICE.) She offers the reading lab for two periods a day for at least 30 students -- many who start out as non-readers.

"The payoff is when these students get to experience joy and you get to be a part of that joy. If a student comes in here hopeless, believing he will never read, and he starts reading, it's amazing to go 'Wow, this happened today,'" she says. "Seeing students graduate who came in here reading at a third-, fourth-grade level and knowing how hard it was for them to meet all the obstacles in their lives, those students are my heroes."

Barnard also offers a literary magazine and newspaper class and a girls-only course dealing with emotional health.

Basics first

Small class sizes at CHOICE allow teachers to get to know their students as individuals and to adapt lesson plans to match specific needs and interests. No one has a chance to feel anonymous or out of the loop. Students call teachers by first name and know them as friends, mentors, and role models in addition to instructors.

Where teachers in traditional schools focus on students meeting state standards, Barnard focuses on building strong, caring relationships. It's a belief, she says, that's shared by every staff member.

"I think to be an alternative ed teacher you have to be incredibly flexible. You have to be nonjudgmental. You can't be shocked; you have to be able to roll with whatever issues come up."

"Research says the one thing that guarantees student success is the perception of the student that they are liked by the teacher," Barnard says. "We get to have relationships with our students that go much deeper than teachers do who have 150 students a day."

Fostering those connections allows her to push students to limits she says she otherwise would not be able to do.

Student Chris Bassler says Barnard motivates her students.

"I'd probably still be at a fourth-grade (reading) level," he says. "I would've dropped out."

Like other students, Jessica Mills had given up on learning. She came to CHOICE unable to read or write beyond an elementary level even though she was a middle schooler.

"I didn't care about school but when you have teachers that care about you and that are going to be there for you and stick right there behind you and tell you, 'OK, c'mon let's go to class,' ... I became a full-blown student graduating on time."

Mills, now an 11th-grader, says reading has opened doors to wanting to be at school. And Barnard helped change her outlook on school.

"She is everything. She's a friend. She is someone you can totally look up to. She is so awesome. She is that person you can ask a question and you'll get an answer that's not rude but very blunt.

"If it wasn't for Sue and them (other teachers at CHOICE), who knows where I'd be," she says. "I'm sure I would not be able to read. I wouldn't be able to comprehend. I wouldn't be able to write a letter 'cause writing and reading is all related."

The top reasons students give for liking Barnard: She cares and she helps them learn how to read. And usually in that order.

"Sue's class is kind of harder than other classes but she helps you," says Trisha Cultee. "When I take her classes she gives me a lot of one on one. Some teachers just explain things once and you're supposed to know it."

Even those who are academically strong say Barnard pushes them to excel.

Michelle Fox, 16, has been attending CHOICE for three years and has enough credits to graduate this year. Barnard is her language arts teacher and adviser on the school's literary magazine.

"Sue really challenges her students," Fox says. "She never just lets you get done. She makes you do your best and makes sure you have challenges along the way."

The teen says her teacher deserves to be honored but admittedly is surprised that an alternative education teacher has been selected to be tops among the mix.

"Usually when you think of an alternative high school, the people who are there are stereotyped as the ones who didn't make it," Fox says. "There were a lot of other teachers that are from normal high schools. I'm glad they (the judges) didn't follow those stereotypes. I'm glad we're all the same."

Small steps are big gains

Barnard measures victories in small steps and celebrates each student's gains along the way to help the lessons stick.

"I believe that we should have high standards and I set high expectations for my students, but for a student who reads at first-grade level, getting him to read at fourth is a pretty high expectation," she says. "Hoping to get him up to 10th is amazing but that's what we work on."

In the reading lab, she rewards students often with praise and treats. Twice a year she throws parties with small certificates to recognize the students' work. As students move through the reading levels, accomplishments are honored.

It's recognition that students cherish.

"I used to never get those when I was in middle school," 17-year-old Cultee says of the certificates. "I give them to my mom and she puts them on the wall that she's making of my awards ... It's almost full. It makes me feel proud of myself -- a lot."

Barnard gives students multiple "second" chances.

"If they set goals and evaluate their progress, they take ownership," she says. "I want them to recognize their own skills and desire to build on their success."

"It's when I watch these students fight to accomplish what comes so easily for others that I become truly humbled," Barnard continues. "They are the ones overcoming huge obstacles in order to achieve academic success. They are my heroes and I am here for them. And I'm honored to represent all teachers who work with all students."