educator of the year
GILROY
spice of life awards
“Kids are kids, the sizes are different
and some of the issues are different
but how they learn, how to teach
them, all those are the same,
they’re all the same.”
Written By Kimberly Ewertz
Donna
I
KLINE
n addition to teacher, wife, mother
and grandmother, fifth-generation
Gilroyan Donna Kline has added
another title to her name—the
Educator of the Year.
The announcement of the prestigious
award—which came during a staff meet-
ing at Eliot Elementary school where she
teaches kindergarten—came as quite a
shock.
“I was totally floored, totally sur-
prised, it could have been anyone on our
staff,” Donna said. “Anyone on the staff
at Eliot is worthy.”
Although teaching runs in Kline’s
family—her grandmother and cousins
are all teachers—it was her childhood
experiences that cemented her career
choice.
“I remember the first couple of years
of my own education I sort of struggled,”
she said. “I had great teachers…they
30
made me feel special and they helped
me through it.”
Since graduating from San Jose State,
where she met her husband of 47 years,
Joe, Donna has embraced teaching. No
matter what grade level she’s taught, her
love for her profession has never waned.
She began her career at Glen View
Elementary teaching First and Sixth
Grades. After the birth of her three
daughters she stepped down and
opened a preschool. Once her youngest
was in school she happily returned to
Glen View.
By 2001, Donna was seeking a change
and moved to Eliot where she taught
Second Grade using the multi-modal-
ity process, helping Spanish speaking
students transition to English.
“Teaching them how to cope and
how to make that transfer and how they
could accommodate themselves,” Donna
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
SPRING 2020
explained. “And how they could develop
the strategies in which to be successful.”
When Kindergarten was added to
Eliot’s curriculum Donna welcomed the
opportunity to teach one of the classes.
“My first degree was in Child
Development so my goal was always to
get back to Kindergarten,” Donna said.
“I loved the age and I loved their interest
in learning.”
As fulfilling as her time at Eliot has
been she admits it’s had its challenges.
“It’s a harder job because you have a
lot more things going on with the kids,
trying to get the services they need, and
family issues, just getting them where
they will learn best,” she said.
Those challenges serve as motivation
to do even more for her students.
“We provide our kids with a tote bag,
a homework folder, and a little bag that
has crayons and pencils,” Donna said,
adding, “So as not to be a drain on the
family.”
In the end it’s Donna’s love for her
students that fuels her passion.
“I love what I do, that’s my happi-
ness, I love coming to work every day.
It’s been great to have that, to live out
my passion,” she said, tears streaming
down her face. “The day they walk in to
when they leave you, just that one year,
what they’ve accomplished on their own
I think that’s the biggest thing to me.”
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