Benning educator is first minority to win military’s Teacher of the Year award

Despite becoming an award-winning teacher, Kelisa Wing failed the first grade in Toledo, Ohio, the year her parents were going through a divorce.

“That’s the basis or the foundation of why I wanted to be a teacher, because I never want another child to go through that,” she said. “After that, I had really great teachers who invested in me, and I wanted to be a part of that.”

She is – in a major way.

Wing, an eighth-grade English language arts teacher in Faith Middle School at Fort Benning, is the 2017 Teacher of the Year for the Department of Defense Education Activity. She is believed to be the first minority to receive the award in the DoDEA’s 71-year history and the first DoDEA winner from Fort Benning in 17 years.

Being selected, Wing said, demonstrates one of the life lessons she tries to teach her students.

“It doesn’t matter what they look like, where they come from or who they are, that anything is possible, as long as they believe in themselves,” she said. “In my classroom, it is an environment of love and acceptance and tolerance.”

Just ask her students.

“She’s always there for me,” said DeShawnna George, 14. “If you ever need help, she’ll be right by your side. She can tell when something’s wrong with me.”

Such as the day when DeShawnna had a problem with her sister, and Wing told her, “Try to talk to her and really be there for her, and if she doesn’t want to talk then, just give her some space, and she’ll come around.”

Making that personal connection helps DeShawnna make the academic connection.

“I’m more willing to come to her class,” DeShawnna said. “I interact with her more, so it’s easier for me to ask for help.”

Third period had been the happiest part of the day this school year for David Toves, 14, because that’s when he had Wing’s class. Unfortunately, her Teacher of the Year duties, including an estimated 50 speaking engagements, have taken her from the classroom since January. But he doesn’t begrudge her success, because he is grateful for her positive influence.

“She’s had a very big impact on my life,” he said. “We weren’t surprised at all when she won.”

Wing strikes the fine balance between being strict yet lenient.

“She just has a way about her that’s upbeat, I guess, that makes students like her,” David said. “She makes sure we’re doing our work and that we have fun while we’re doing it.”

No wonder Wing summarizes her teaching philosophy this way: “I don’t teach a subject; I teach people. Ultimately, I want them to be good people that are going to contribute to society.”

They contribute to Wing’s classroom society as she lets them learn the consequences of the freedom she gives them. For example, she allows students to chew gum in her class.

“But if I find gum under the desk, no more chewing gum,” she said. “Kids want to do what I’m asking them to do because they know there’s the respect there.”

Wing figures her background helps her empathize with her students. She served in the U.S. Army for six years, honorably discharged as as staff sergeant, after being stationed at Fort Knox, Fort Campbell and Fort Jackson and being deployed to South Korea. She has worked in DoDEA schools for 11 years, as a substitute teacher, a teacher’s aide, a secretary, an administrative officer and now a full-time teacher for the past five years. She laughed and said, “I understand all sides of the school.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Maryland University College, then a master’s degree in secondary education and a specialist’s degree with a concentration in curriculum, instruction and educational Leadership from the University of Phoenix.

Wing lives in Fort Mitchell, Ala., with her three children and husband, Donald, a retired sergeant first class after serving in the U.S. Army for 22 years. He now is a teacher’s aide in Wilson Elementary School at Fort Benning.

“Military children have different needs,” she said. “Yes, they have access to dental and medical (insurance) and housing, whereas those might be struggles for children outside the gate. But our children are dealing with their parents being deployed for long periods of time. So, geographically, they might be dealing with a single-parent situation. A lot of our children, because of the rapid deployments, come from families with a high divorce rate. They’re in blended families, and it’s a social-emotional aspect you have to deal with.”

Wing dealt with the social-emotional turmoil of being among three children raised mostly by a single mother. She recalled nights when she went to bed hungry and couldn’t turn on the lights because the power bill wasn’t paid.

“But my mother always instilled in us that education was the key,” she said.

And her mother walked that talk. Wing recalled accompanying her to night classes for a registered nursing degree.

“That was motivation,” she said.

Wing loves to teach, she said, because “you’re able to give people hope. Education, it doesn’t matter what your economic background is or where you come from. Education is the key to get you to whatever it is you want to do later in life. It’s a power, and I want them to access that power so they can be what they want to be and do what they want to do in life and not have to struggle.”

Sometimes, however, we can benefit from struggle if we frame it constructively, Wing has learned. All of which is the main message of her self-published book, available at Amazon.com, titled “Weeds & Seeds: Staying Positive in the Midst of Life’s Storms.”

“It’s about staying above the fray,” she said. “No matter what is thrown your way, you just continue to do what’s right, no matter what.”

The title also is a response to that first-grade teacher who retained her.

“She tried to sew a weed in my life, but I turned it into a seed,” Wing said. “Because of her failing me, I didn’t take it as, ‘Well, I’m a failure.’ I took it as, ‘I will never allow another child to feel that weed. I’m going to turn that weed into a seed.’ So, in life, you get these bad experiences, but they help you grow and they help you become who you really are supposed to be.”

Linda Curtis, the DoDEA’s principal deputy director and associate director for education, explained why Wing was selected out of 14 DoDEA district winners to represent the military in the National Teacher of the Year competition.

“She involves students, parents and her peers in her lessons to connect with students on their level, incorporate their personalities and experiences in their writing, and use the skills they develop in her class to build on and connect with other classes they take,” Curtis said in a news release.

Faith principal Joan Islas concurred in an emailed interview with the Ledger-Enquirer. She said Wing “works hard with her students to develop strong 21st Century American citizens. She is an inclusive teacher that finds multiple entry points for her students to relate to our standards and to complete assignments. She differentiates her instruction as she works to ensure success for all students.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Benning educator is first minority to win military’s Teacher of the Year award."