Cover Story
Learn what drives Teacher of the Year Greg Kester
At 7 a.m. high school social studies teacher and Potosi NEA member Greg Kester meets with a small group of students in his classroom on the second floor of Potosi High School. Students and Kester, 2024 Missouri Teacher of the Year, huddle around a single laptop as one of them pages through a draft of an essay that one of the students plans to submit for a scholarship competition. Instead of suggesting edits, Kester asks the students questions: "Why was this an obstacle?" "How can you help the reader understand your perspective?" The students continue to work even as Kester pulls himself away and heads to his post in the school's main hallway before the day's first class begins.
Read more of this story in the fall 2023 issue of Something Better.