Shari Ann Herout

“Once a child gets a taste of success, failure is no longer a measure of worth—strengths and successes are that measure and weaknesses are simply skills to be worked on.” —Shari Ann Herout, from her 2012 California Teachers of the Year application

I have been teaching for 26 years, and I currently provide Response to Intervention and ELD instruction for our K-6 students. (RTI is defined as a process that schools can use to help children who are struggling academically or behaviorally.) Each school day, young children enter my world with a sense of wonder. They each are greeted personally with a handshake or elbow bump, and they instantly know they are safe in a classroom where “we make room for everyone to shine.”

Superintendent Tom Torlakson: “Mrs. Herout sees teaching as more than a job. She teaches with a multiage, one-room schoolhouse philosophy that empowers her students to seek knowledge with passion. She knows of the obstacles that face many children, yet she helps them work through them so success can be achieved and savored.”

I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies degree from California State University, Sacramento, where I graduated Summa Cum Laude, and I also earned a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction: Elementary School Mathematics. I proudly served 2 years as president for my local teacher’s union and continue to lead our school garden club, organize school family education nights, participate is PTA events, and attend school leadership meetings.