By Hal Morris
Special to NKyTribune
It’s not really how a student learns as much as it is that they simply learn. That is what is important to Ashley Lamb-Sinclair.
“I really think it has to do with my approach to education and how I view what education should be,” says Lamb-Sinclair, an English and creative writing teacher at North Oldham High School in Goshen.
“The big thing for me is, education should be authentic. I really am proud of the way I make learning relevant for my students. If there are things that are not relevant or not authentic, then they don’t make learning a priority.
“I’ve always loved learning. I love it just for the sake of learning, so I have that drive to recreate that for my kids. And the only way for that to be authentic is it has to matter to them. I value creativity over anything else. It’s just out-of-the-box thinking or teaching.”
That philosophy has worked for Lamb-Sinclair, who is 2016 Kentucky Teacher of the Year.
“I’m absolutely humbled. There are 40,000 teachers in Kentucky, and I’m just one of them,” she says of the award. “I’m just lucky to receive the recognition. There are many who are doing it and not getting the recognition, and that’s unfortunate. I’m excited to be the voice for them.”
Lamb-Sinclair credits the Danville Independent School System for instilling her with not only a love of learning but allowing her to learn in a way that suited her.
“I have been very lucky in my life to have had a lot of great teachers and was given a lot of great learning opportunities growing up in Danville,” she says. “Danville is a great school system. I was given a lot of opportunities to collaborate and be a critical thinker, and that was from elementary school through high school in that system.”
At the University of Kentucky, she was a Fulbright Scholar and an Oxford Scholar.
“When I came to UK, I had two important mentors in Les Burns and Renee Boss,” she says. “They really gave me the freedom to explore and define my own teaching style, and use that creativity to be a better teacher. I also had colleagues and peers in our program with me that were phenomenal thinkers and really passionate about teaching.”
By winning the award, Lamb-Sinclair became eligible to take a one-year sabbatical through the Kentucky Department of Education and it started this month. It was a tough decision, she admits, but the support of her students was the “icing on the cake” that helped make the choice easier.
She is the first winner to take the sabbatical, so Lamb-Sinclair says she can make it what she wants.
“I will be learning on the job. I will be working with the commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education and will visit schools across the state and talk with teachers to engage them and be a voice for them after listening to see what issues are important to them,” says Lamb-Sinclair, who will represent the state in the 2016 National Teacher of the Year competition. “There’s a lot of great stuff happening, and I’ll see what teachers want to see changed.”
From the UK Alumni Association.