South Valley Middle School is now $20,000 richer thanks to the all-star efforts of a popular sixth grade math and science teacher.
Carmen Kotto was named the CSN Bay Area 2015 All-Star Teacher, which was announced July 8. Prior to the start of a San Francisco Giants baseball game, Kotto joined four other finalists of the CSN Bay Area 2015 All-Star Teacher Award contest in centerfield anxiously waiting to learn who had won.
Everything about the pregame ceremony was a blur, Kotto said, until she heard her name called by Ted Griggs, president and general manager of CSN Bay Area and CSN California.
“CSN and Provident Credit Union are honored to name Carmen Kotto the 2015 All-Star Teacher and to present her with a $20,000 check for South Valley Middle School,” Griggs announced.
Kotto’s hand went immediately to her heart.
“I told my students that when I do this, I’m talking to you,” she said.
Kotto and four other nominees were selected by a panel of judges from a pool of 175 nominations. South Valley teacher Patricia Torres Pedroza nominated Kotto for the award when All-Star Teacher nomination forms were distributed to more than 200 Northern and Central California schools earlier this year.
In her nomination letter, Torres Pedroza described Kotto’s teaching style.
“It becomes very evident that students love and respect her as soon as you step in the door,” Pedroza said. “She establishes rapport with her students by making sure that they understand that she cares about them, their well being and their academic success.”
From Facebook and Twitter to handmade flyers and drawings made by her students, Kotto gathered votes utilizing every means available. And her students used methods she wasn’t even aware of.
“The kids did Instagram…I still don’t even know what that is,” Kotto said.
The most effective approach, she said, was her daily emails to every teacher in the Gilroy Unified School District.
As far as Kotto was concerned, every vote she received was a vote for South Valley. She knew a win would benefit the kids, so there was no stopping her.
“My biggest motivation was for the students,” Kotto said.
Her hard work paid off. The contest garnered 40,000 votes with Kotto garnering the highest majority of them.
The news of Kotto’s win spread rapidly to friends, colleagues and students. A student who Kotto has known since fourth grade emailed her congratulations as soon as she heard the news.
Kotto has taught sixth grade math and science at South Valley Middle School for the past eight years. In addition to her normal class schedule, Kotto voluntarily teaches a 7 a.m. “intervention level” class for students who are at least two years below grade level.
When school resumes in August, a ceremony will be held at South Valley where the $20,000 dollar check will be presented to principal Anisha Munshi, who has assured Kotto that a portion of the funds will be allotted to the continuation of her morning school class, among other ongoing worthwhile projects.
Kotto’s greatest take away from the experience is the life lesson she feels it taught her students.
“If you have a passion for anything, you put in as much effort as you possibly can, ask for a little help, and it happens,” said Kotto, smiling broadly. “It absolutely happens. That’s what I try and teach my kids all the time.”
