2011
Award Winners
Kim Edwards Anderson
Chase Elementary, Chicago
Kindergarten
Watch Kim on the WGN News segment about the 2011 winners.
Read about Kim in Mark Brown's column in the Chicago Sun-Times.
In the 1970s, Mayor Richard J. Daley’s summer work program meant more than a free T-shirt to Kim Edwards Anderson. The late mayor’s youth initiative secured the Englewood resident a spot as an aide to her former Kindergarten teacher. After making a meager $2 an hour that summer, family members dissuaded her from education, which many of them saw as low paying and lacking in recognition.
“I wanted to be a teacher, but that path was unsupported,” Edwards Anderson said. “I tried just about everything else. I took classes for nursing, for law, and nothing stuck.”
Fortunately, Edwards Anderson ultimately realized her dream. For her commitment to community, her extraordinary ability to propel children to reach their full potential, and her contributions to improving the teaching abilities of her peers, Edwards Anderson, a kindergarten teacher at Chase Elementary in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, is one of three winners of the Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards.
“It’s hard to sum up her career in one word," said Chase principal Elizabeth Gonzalez. "Kim chose this path. Her ability to persevere is real and inspiring. It allows her to identify with children and their families. Kim is a fearless and humble leader.”
Since earning her associates degree in early childhood in 1985 at Harry S. Truman College, her commitment to education has not wavered. In 1988 she earned her bachelor’s in early childhood education at National Louis University, then her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is now poised to earn her second master’s degree in instructional education and receive her Type 75 Leadership credential from the American College of Education later this year.
She becomes giddy when she recalls the path that brought her to where she is today. Two programs at a very early age affirmed her passion to teach. As an eighth grader at Guggenheim Elementary in Englewood, the Future Teachers program put Kim under the wing of her former third grade teacher every Friday. That summer, the mayor’s youth work program assured her she was on the right path.
In spite of those experiences, many in her family steered her in other directions, until her uncle, Randy Temple, stepped in. "He asked me what I really wanted to do, and I told him that I wanted to be a teacher," Kim said. "He paid for my schooling, he paid for my child care, and he made sure that I succeeded."
With 15 of the last 25-plus years in teaching spent in kindergarten, Edwards Anderson said she has yet to have a bad day. Her greatest accomplishment in recent years was receiving her National Board Certification. She said that advancing her own education is paramount to her ability to advance her students’ learning.
“The greatest reward in the classroom has to be that 'ah ha' moment for a child, which for many children is nothing short of a miracle,” Edwards Anderson said. “You hear them say something that is proof they understood the lesson, and you realize in that very moment your experience helped that child. It’s a gift.”