SPRING BRANCH, Texas — Traci Collie won the KENS 5 EXCEL Award and $1,000 check from our partner Credit Human. KENS 5 Anchor Sarah Forgany presented her with the award in front of the entire school during a special celebration at Spring Branch Middle School, before dropping by her classroom to see how she’s mastered the art of turning numbers and formulas into a story that’s hard to forget.
Over her 17 years teaching, Traci Collie has heard this a lot, “Oh, I hate math. I can't do it.” It’s why she makes sure her math class is unlike any other.
On the first day of class ever year, “Everyone's going to have just like this roller coaster of a year,” Collie tosses away the typical rules and instead, pulls out, "I read them my first day letter.”
That letter is a heart felt note, "I talk about how I was once a student and I struggled.” Collie called it a reassurance to help usher in her anxious 8th grade and Pre-Ap students, setting the tone for the rest of the school year.
Collie recalls struggling in high school while trying to juggle sports and academics but it was her math teacher who stepped up to get her back on track.
“I had a great geometry teacher who just helped me get through that process. She was always there anytime I needed her lunch, morning, after school.”
Following in her teacher’s footsteps, Collie is now that supportive teacher for her students, offering one-on-one tutoring anytime, any day, always available.
“She works hard,” an 8th grader told us, while another chimed in, “and she does it in a fun way.”
In a way that students can connect even with numbers, using food like Cheez-Its to simplify equations, “We’re learning the Pythagorean theorem,” students said as they arranged Cheez-Its and working as a team, “She makes it an example that actually relates to our lives.”
Examples come in all shapes and sizes in Collie’s class helping kids break down their fear of math and she’s willing to go to just about any lengths.
"I walk in the classroom in a Dinosaur blow up costume,” Collie said describing how she explained the Triangle Inequality Thereom to her students, "Your T-Rex has little arms and so the sides have to be longer to make a triangle.”
Anyway to make it memorable but it’s the end result for Collie, that she says is the most rewarding.
"The moment that they are like AHA. Oh, like this relief of just like now I get it. "
Collie said she doesn’t grade on accuracy, instead she grades on their effort but at the same time, she says there’s plenty of tough love in her classroom,"I think holding students accountable is really important,” Collie said. “It's about feedback. When they do an assignment, I show them how to do it and if they fail a test, they have to correct every single one."
Collie also does what she calls growth awards after each test and the class with the highest growth, gets donuts or cupcakes. She doesn’t just teach kids, Collie is one of the educators teaching other teachers in Comal-U which is the district’s professional development program that provides learning opportunities for educators. Collie is also the UIL Math Coach.
This is the KENS 5 EXCEL Awards 25th years partnering with Credit Human to honor local teachers. If you’d like to watch past winners, click on kens5.com/EXCEL.