2002 Minnesota Teacher of the Year
Ms. Stoflet teaches all subjects to students in a 1 and 2 loop at Gatewood School. She has seventeen years of teaching experience.

What are your beliefs about teaching?
"My philosophy is that as educators we are bridge builders. We build a bridge between what students know and what they need to know. We are facilitators of thinking more than we are teachers. If we facilitate thought and productive thinking we will be preparing our students well for a world we cannot yet imagine. We do this best when we work with a child's strengths."

How are your beliefs incorporated in your teaching style?
"My philosophy in action involves determining each child's strengths and planning activities that best compliment those strengths. Some students may learn a concept one way while another group will learn the same concept in a different manner."

What is your greatest teaching accomplishment?
"My greatest teaching accomplishment is that I stretch myself to grow a minimum of 10% each year. By modeling life-long learning I am preparing my students to do the same."

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 helping policymakers see that the knowledge we gain from testing has to be used to further a child's development. If we only test students and don't use the information to facilitate growth, we are missing an opportunity. We must resolve this issue through communication. We must effectively ask for funding necessary to use the test results positively."

Inspirational thought:
"As educators, we have a past that is rich in memories and a present that is both rewarding and challenging because we are allowed to spend our days (and sometimes our nights and weekends) with the future."