2001 Minnesota Teacher of the Year
Ms. Koch-Laveen teaches at Apple Valley High School in Apple Valley, Minnesota. She has been teaching high school chemistry for thirty years.

What are your beliefs about teaching?
"Students construct their own understanding of the world based on their interactions with events and information around them. I provide meaningful activities and appropriate information. Then I guide students, by interacting with them, to build conceptual frameworks about chemistry knowledge that aligns with accepted chemistry concepts."

How are your beliefs incorporated in your teaching style?
"I introduce each new concept with an explanatory, hands-on activity. I follow the activity with a discussion, which leads students to discover the new concept. I reinforce and embellish the concept with readings, problems and lab experiments."

What is your greatest teaching accomplishment?
"My greatest teaching accomplishment is being able to inspire students to develop their own understanding of the world by empowering them to build conceptual frameworks and helping them process information from their interactions in the world. I am a catalyst for their learning and building knowledge."

What's the most critical issue facing educators today and what do you think can be done to resolve this issue?
"The most critical issue facing educators today is that students do not always receive the support they need to learn successfully. This can be resolved by providing the students with highly qualified teachers, adequate classroom resources and appropriate learning activities such as after-school programs. To ensure high quality education, high standards must be established for pre-service and in-service teachers, and these standards must be maintained with meaningful professional development. In addition, money must be allocated by governments to ensure adequate classroom resources are provided."

Inspirational thought:
"Research indicates that the factor most correlated with student achievement is teacher quality. Quality teachers know their subject, present concepts in a variety of ways and for that very precious bond with students."