Marlin Hutterite teacher named best in state

Edwards learned to read at 35, attended college at 46

MARLIN - There are fingerprints on the award naming Gaynor Edwards the Washington Federation of Independent Schools' 2008 Best Teacher.

She doesn't plan to clean them off. She believes everyone who has touched it has been a part of her success.

"Every fingerprint counts," Edwards said.

For the last decade, Edwards has been teaching kindergarten through 12th grade, with an emphasis on fifth grade through 12th grade at the Marlin Hutterite School.

She originally taught as a teacher's aide at the Warden Hutterite community for five years, then obtained her teaching degree.

She became a superintendent and teacher for the Jubilee Youth Ranch near Prescott, Wash., which she described as being for troubled youth and the children of area orchard workers.

"(Marlin) called and said, 'We're looking for a teacher,' and I truly love working in a one-room school," she said. "The diversity not only of the people, but the diversity of the curriculum. I'm not in one grade, I get to do everything from assisting Mrs. Ferguson (Cheryl Ferguson, who teaches preschool through fourth grade) to high school physics, biology, algebra and science. The reason is I get to learn. The greatest part of teaching is learning. In a one-room school, I get to learn something exciting every day, so I come as a student as much as a teacher."

Such an approach, Edwards believes, encourages her own students to learn because she shows enthusiasm about learning, and learning with them.

"Just because I know something about physics doesn't mean I can't add something to that," she said.

Receiving the award was remarkable for Edwards, who did not attend college until she was 46 years old.

"I have done tons of things in my life, from cleaning restrooms to cowboying, bookkeeping and I'm a professional seamstress," she said. "Here I received this great award, and to stand among teachers, but I was a little naive in the fact I thought maybe a few people had been nominated, like maybe three or four, and I was the best of that."

But when she got to the ceremony, Edwards discovered that in fact Washington has the highest amount of private or independent schools and many people had been nominated.

"Then I became nervous, because I had been placed among other great teachers, and to be chosen in a one-room school in Eastern Washington that just goes about our business because we're proud of what we do," she said. "Today I sit here and go, 'My gosh, this is really an impressive award,' and I am so proud."

Edwards is quick to credit her partnership with Ferguson with her success at the school. Ferguson returns the admiration.

"I was quite tickled for her, not surprised at all," Ferguson said. "She's very multi-talented, very caring and giving, gives her all. Very hands-on with the students, comes early, goes late."

The two teachers have worked side by side for nine years.

"It was kind of a neat thing, because I think people tend to forget us out here in the colony," Ferguson said of Edwards' award. "So many times now teachers are specialized in one thing, and I think it's amazing one person can come in and teach everything all at once, and still have the patience. I think people think, 'Oh, you're out there because you guys are bad teachers,' but all the teachers that teach at Hutterite schools I've met are outstanding teachers and it's hard to keep all these students at this pace. These students are bright students, and they deserve a chance to learn like everybody else."

Edwards never intended to become a teacher when she graduated from high school in Kittitas in 1964.

"It didn't even enter my mind, because I was a poor student and teachers gave me Ds probably when I deserved Fs," she said. "But they believed in me as a person. At age 35, I found out how bad a reader I really was. I learned to read at 35 above a second- or third-grade level. So high school, you couldn't dream because you couldn't read. I had manipulated my abilities to sidestep that in all facets of life."

Edwards' husband of 41 years, Roger, was the one with enough patience to teach her to read, she said.

"Then things kind of went into place," she said.

As she worked for the Warden community, Edwards realized she could go to college. Because she didn't qualify for any financial aid, Edwards' mother sold some property after her father died, and said she would pay for Edwards' education.

In her first quarter at Big Bend Community College, she attended a presentation by Heritage University, which was planning to locate a college in Othello.

With the approval of the president and vice president of the community college at the time, Edwards, who wanted the Heritage University education program, and several other women went out to solicit interest in bringing the university's programs to Moses Lake, encouraging people to understand there could be a four-year program locally, ultimately asking for a master's program as well.

Edwards teaches for the university and community college as an adjunct teacher as well.

"I'm proud of graduating from both of those places," she said. "I was well prepared for the challenging job I faced at Jubilee and then the challenging job I have here. They gave us the meat and we put our own gravy on it."

Edwards lives 23 miles from the Marlin Hutterite community.

"I'm not a member of the community, but I'm very much a part of the community," she said. "We feel honored that the community treats us as part of their family culture."

"Truthfully, for her to get the award, I knew she was the type of teacher, but what I was amazed with was that they found her out in the sticks," joked Hutterite member and German teacher Fred Gross. "That's what really impressed me and showed me the system is really doing its job: They can find a good teacher even if she's out in nowhere."

Gross said he's always known Edwards was remarkable.

"She feels for the children and she must have the instinct of reading the children, knowing what their problem is and helping them with their problem," he said. "She respects the culture and actually encourages the young children that that's what they need to do. We admire her for that, and she actually sees things we don't see, and helps us with that."

Gross said Edwards has worked hard to help the community with education.

"We listen to her because she's a professional," he said. "She always comes and asks and gets permission. Sometimes it's a no, but most of the time she's right."

Edwards was nominated by Linda McKay, superintendent of the Wilson Creek School District. The school district and the Marlin school developed a partnership.

"She has just done a great job in terms of using assessment to inform her instruction, providing her kids the best opportunity she can and setting them up for success beyond school life," McKay said. "She works hard out there. She is pretty much the administrator and the teacher for all those students in the English portion of their school, so she's got her hands full. She is truly a teacher who fights for her kids … She will go the extra mile always for her students."

Edwards said she is dedicated to the Hutterite program. She would also like to pursue her doctorate, and noted she has things to write about the teaching in a one-room school, which she said embraces everything she teaches part-time for Heritage University and Big Bend Community College about family and community involvement and educating successful students.

The education Edwards and Ferguson provide in the school is to prepare their students for dealing with the necessities of life outside the community and keep their culture at the same time.

"This is a 500-plus year culture, and it's successful because they have such a strong work ethic," Edwards said. "In a one-room school there's never a dull moment. There's always something exciting going on, there's always something with the community going on we're bringing into the classroom every day."

The outside community might not realize how hard the Hutterites work or how dedicated to family they are, Edwards added.

"Because I come from a farming, ranching background, I really understand what needs to happen in a farming environment," she said. "Children must have high abilities in math, they must be very capable. In a Hutterite community, it's a lifelong apprenticeship."

Residents of Hutterite colonies embrace working "to the highest degree," Edwards said.

"The work ethic at a very young age is valued," she said. "These kids can drive tractors, do work at the dairy. They work side by side by their parents. We have equalness in the way the community functions, everybody's valued. Even our little kids are capable of doing big things."

Edwards believes she is an example to students that if they are not at the top of their class or struggle with something as a teenager, they can keep working at whatever they need to be a better person.

"At 35 to learn to read at a higher level, at 40 to take a job as a (teacher's assistant), at 46 to go back to school, working full time, going to school, finishing it and then sitting here today saying, 'I am Teacher of the Year,'" Edwards said, emotion evident in her tone. "It's only punctuated with tears."