Elementary teacher named latest Milken educator

Third-grade teacher Ryan Williams talks with First Lady Jane Beshear after he was announced as the newest recipient of the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award at Mary Lee Cravens Elementary School (Owensboro Independent).
Photo by Amy Wallot, Dec. 11, 2012

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Growing up, Ryan Williams wanted one of three careers: teacher, NBA star or game show host.

“I really thought I’d be 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds,” Williams joked. “But it didn’t quite work out that way.”

Luckily, Williams has not only been an educator the past 14 years, but he has found a way to incorporate the two professions he never achieved into his classroom at Mary Lee Cravens Elementary School (Owensboro Independent).

“He’s definitely a risk taker,” said Cravens Elementary Principal James Lyddane said. “But the risks he takes are all about engaging the kids.”

Those risks have paid off, and Williams, who taught 1st grade for 11 years before switching to 3rd grade three years ago, was recently named Kentucky’s latest Milken Family Foundation Educator Award recipient.

“He’s a cornerstone to this school,” Lyddane said of Williams, who teaches mathematics. “He creates a strong culture at this school based on challenging lessons, problem-solving and true critical thinking.”

Williams agreed with Lyddane’s description of him as a teacher willing to take chances.

“I don’t like spoon-feeding the kids,” he said. “I try to get to know them and cater lessons to who students are and what they like.”

More on Williams and the Milken Educator award

Ryan Williams, Kentucky’s newest recipient of the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, was notified of his award last week, when Education Commissioner Terry Holliday, First Lady Jane Beshear, Milken Family Foundation Vice-President Jane Foley and local dignitaries visited his school.

Williams has taught at Cravens Elementary since 1999 and is a National Board Certified Teacher. The Henderson native earned a master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Western Kentucky University.

Williams is director of the Cravens iPad Academy, served on the school-based decision making council at Cravens and participated in the Owensboro Independent Academic Leadership program.

He is a member of the Owensboro Education Association, the Kentucky Education Association and the National Education Association.

As Kentucky’s Milken Family Foundation National Educator, Williams will receive a check for $25,000. There are no restrictions on the use of the award – the winners may use the money in any way they choose.

The award provides public recognition and a cash reward to elementary and secondary school teachers, principals and other education professionals. The foundation was established in 1985, and the first awards given in 1987. Kentucky has participated since 1993, with 53 recipients since then. This year, more than 50 educators nationwide were selected as winners.

The Milken Educator Network is a national voluntary association of nearly 2,000 Milken Educators and other exemplary educators and business leaders who are dedicated to improving teacher quality and utilizing research and expertise to shape education policy at state and local levels.

The Milken Family Foundation was established in 1982 to discover and advance inventive and effective ways of helping people help themselves and those around them lead productive and satisfying lives. The foundation, based in Santa Monica, Calif., advances this mission primarily through its work in education and medical research.

For Camron Ritter, that’s basketball.

“I like when Mr. Williams takes math and turns it into a game,” Ritter said. “He’s a fun teacher, and he cares about us, too.”

Williams will challenge students to mathematics competitions with the winners receiving a chance to shoot a foam basketball into a classroom net.

“If the kids like football, I make it a football game,” Williams said. “It’s about taking what they know and using real-life experiences to make it meaningful.”

When Williams taught 1st grade, he routinely used a game show format to create learning opportunities. “I was the host, Mr. Proveit, and the students participated in a phonics game show,” he said.

Williams also had a WWE wrestling contest called “Tag Team Reading” involving a five-point scale. When students reached the fifth point, they got to wear a celebratory wrestling belt around the school.

He recently had a project-based mathematics lesson that involved his 3rd graders developing ticket sales for a Justin Bieber concert.

Embracing lessons rich in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) components is a key element in his teaching, and a recent lesson involving circuits was a big hit with students.

“Instead of just studying simple circuits, the students had to apply their knowledge and design working models (using household items),” he said.

Williams gave students everything they needed to make simple circuits, and students added household items to create popsicle cars with electric motors and bottle tops for the wheels.

They also created homemade flashlights with rulers, and electric fans out of rulers, popsicle sticks and straws.

Williams said it was an ideal lesson because he offered no directions, and students had to work in cooperative groups to design their creations.

“This is what learning should be like,” he said.

Owensboro Independent administrators, particularly Lyddane, are very supportive of the risks Williams takes in his classroom.

“It’s vital to have a principal who lets teachers take risks,” Williams added. “Mr. Lyddane sets that example for us.”

Williams, one of many educators in his family, also credited his fellow teachers at Cravens Elementary, saying that the collaboration they do vertically and across grade levels has really influenced his teaching practices, too.

When a district staff member at Estes Elementary faced a medical leave recently, district administrators called on Williams to step into that role, and he’s currently “on loan” at Estes Elementary School as a curriculum coordinator.

Eventually, he said, he’d like to pursue administration.

“I’m always trying to grow,” he said. “I haven’t arrived yet, but the sky’s the limit.”