Shavon Brewer, a fifth grade math teacher at Northwest Elementary School in Evergreen Park, was presented with a Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching Thursday in a surprise ceremony.
“I think she just exemplifies the great things about our teachers. She’s very caring, she’s very involved with the students,” said Principal Matthew Banach. “She started our drama club from scratch. Now we have like 40 to 50 kids every year involved in drama.”
Banach praised Brewer’s ability to get her students engaged.
“Her classroom is amazing. She makes it very interactive for the students,” he said. “Math is a hard subject to teach sometimes, but she gets them engaged, gets them involved, gets them really talking to each other to make it come alive.”
Dozens of people crowded onto a stage behind a curtain in the school’s lunchroom ahead of the surprise, including Brewer’s parents and son.
Brewer knew she was a finalist, but said she had not thought she would actually get the award.
“Am I dreaming? Is this real?” she said.
Brewer is one of just 10 Illinois teachers who will receive the award this year, out of nearly 600 nominees, according to the Golden Apple Foundation.
The award, which includes a $5,000 cash prize and a free spring sabbatical at Northwestern University, is just a bonus to being able to do the job she loves, Brewer said.
“Honestly, I do what I do for my children,” Brewer said. “I love seeing my kids’ faces every day. I come to school every day prepared, ready to teach and give it my all. I want to make every lesson engaging, every lesson better than the last.”
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Brewer’s students celebrated with her, cheering “Miss Brewer! Miss Brewer!” and mobbing her with hugs.
“Every year, it just keeps getting better. I have amazing students,” Brewer said. “I’m going to keep being amazing.”
Gloria Brewer, Shavon’s mother, said that former students who are now in high school frequently come back to visit her.
“She’s so deserving of this,” said Gloria Brewer. “She gives everything, all that she has.”
Her daughter is so dedicated to her students, Gloria Brewer said, that she sometimes stays late enough that the custodians let her out of the building while locking up.
“I’m very proud of my mom,” said Malachi Brewer, Shavon’s son. “Every day, you know, she’s giving it her all.”
Alan Mather, president of the Golden Apple Foundation, said recognizing outstanding teachers is important.
“We have a severe teacher shortage. Elevating the teaching profession now, I would argue, is one of the most important things we do,” Mather said. “I became a teacher because I was inspired by another teacher.”
Winners of the Golden Apple Awards go on to help train and mentor the next generation of teachers, Mather said, which promotes a valuable sense of community.
“As weird as it sounds that teaching is lonely, because you’re surrounded by people all the time, it’s also kind of a lonely profession,” Mather said. “Unless there is real structured time for collaboration it doesn’t happen, but having that group of people you can connect with is so important.”
Having standout teachers who are a part of that group providing support, Mather said, helps future teachers get through college, stick with the career and stay in the classroom for longer.
The process for selecting winners is multistage, Mather said. After narrowing down to a group of finalists, the Golden Apple Foundation conducts interviews with everyone in a nominated teacher’s orbit.
“We send a team into the school. We observe classes, we meet with teachers, we meet with parents, we meet with students, we meet with administration,” Mather said. “We try to get a holistic view of the teacher.”
Golden Apple was started in 1985 as a Chicago-focused endeavor, Mather said. It was expanded to become statewide in 2019.
“Our founders, Mike and his late wife, Pat Koldyke, were watching the Academy Awards and they said, there should be teachers up there,” Mather said.