Conway - Peggy Carter hasn't let the celebrity status that resonates through the halls of Ruth Doyle Intermediate School go to her head, although her feet still haven't hit the ground.

Carter, a fifth-grade math teacher, was recently given the honor of being Conway School District's Teacher of the Year and said Thursday she is still in a state of shock weeks later.

"I knew they were going to announce it that day and my e-mail was down, so I never dreamed I would win, I just assumed they sent an e-mail that morning saying who won and I would find out when I got home," Carter said.

But it was before the final bell rang that Carter knew who received the honor. She said Dr. Greg Murry, Conway superintendent, and other administrators rushed into one of her classes holding balloons and flowers and caught her off guard with the announcement.

However, Carter said she was the only person in the room surprised at the fact that she was chosen.

"The class that I had when the announcement was made, after Dr. Murry left, they clapped for me and had such pride on their faces," Carter said. "Then they announced my name over the intercom and all the kids in other classrooms were yelling 'Carter, Carter.' It really brought tears to my eyes."

Murry said Thursday though it was up to the selection committee to choose the final winner, it was the reaction of the students that told him they made the right choice.

"It was amazing to see the bright eyes of those kids in the classroom when we came in and their response really proved to me what a great teacher she is," Murry said. "They so warmly recognized her and after we left we could still hear them cheering."

Carter, who has taught at Ruth Doyle for the past five years, said she was very happy to see the pride in her students' faces that day, as she considers them, and the rest of the school, her family.

"This honor is very important to me because I'm single and being single I pour most of my energy into my job," Carter said. "So being recognized by my fellow teachers means more to me than someone who maybe has a family, because the people at this school are my family."

A few of Carter's "family members" were happy to share a few thoughts on one of their favorite teachers.

"She really deserves to be teacher of the year because she's nice and a good teacher," fifth-grader Paige Ashcraft said.

Jasmine Moore, another fifth-grade student, echoed the sentiments of the rest of the class when she said, "Mrs. Carter is the best teacher ever."

"We can ask her anything and she understands when we don't get a problem and helps us figure it out," Moore said.

Those students were living proof that Carter's teaching philosophy truly works, as she said the best way to teach a child is to find the method through which he or she learns best.

"We need to do everything we can to engage students in their learning and sometimes it's teaching the algorithm way because they have to have it, but sometimes it's teaching other methods and trying to make it more fun," Carter said.

Carter, who is in the 22nd year of her teaching career, also said she sometimes has to remind the students that it is her job to teach and it is perfectly normal if she has to help a student through a tough problem.

"I tell the students I get paid to teach and I will sing a little song to them, 'I'm going to earn my pay today,'" Carter said. "That's my job and I love my job."

Although Carter said it was one of the best days of her life when Murry announced to her class she had been named teacher of the year, she didn't always want to teach fifth-grade.

"I got my bachelor's and master's degrees in early childhood education and all I ever wanted to be was a kindergarten teacher," Carter said. "And after three years I got moved to third-grade and then when one of my co-teachers got moved to fifth-grade, I went, too. Now that I've been there, that's my niche. I always thought kindergarten was what I wanted to do, but I guess I will always be a fifth-grade teacher."

Other fifth-grade students who had nothing but positive things to say about their favorite teacher Thursday afternoon were Mary-Morgan Ellis, Connor Lichtenwalter, Chelsea Taylor, Alana Jasper, Will Callaway, Andrea Moore, Emily Simpson, Morgan McAlexander, Abby Farris and Natalie Davis.

(By Jessica Bauer, Log Cabin Staff Writer.)