When the Central Office administration, along with DMS Principal Cassie Berthold, walked into his advisory class on Oct. 1, at first Derrick Miller was confused at first, and then he felt almost overwhelmed when he realized what was going on.
Miller was selected as the Duncan Middle School teacher of the year. Superintendent Channa Byerly, assistant superintendents Kim Ellis and Merry Stone, and Berthold were on hand to give Miller the recognition.
“There are so many deserving teachers at the middle school,” Miller said. “The teacher of the year could have been just about anyone. I feel so honored.”
To be eligible for teacher of the year, candidates had to have taught for five years with the last three in Duncan, could not have been on a plan of improvement and had to accept the nomination. From the list of candidates, DMS teachers voted for who they thought should be teacher of the year, and Miller received the most votes.
This is Miller’s 12th year of teaching and 12th year at Duncan Middle School. He teaches sixth-grade journalism, seventh-grade journalism, newspaper, production (blogging, podcasting, video) and yearbook. Additionally, he is also the adviser for Student Council and National Junior Honor Society.
Outside of school, Miller is a member of the Oklahoma Education Association Board, the Christians Concerned Board and the Oklahoma Association of Middle Junior Honor Student Councils Board, serves as treasurer for the Association of Duncan Educators, is the chair for the Duncan Legislative Team, and is active in Duncan Little Theatre and other organizations.
Seventh-grader Brayden Nguyen said Miller is deserving of being teacher of the year. Nguyen is in Miller’s seventh-grade journalism class.
“He’s a good teacher,” he said.
Although new to the building, Steven Dixon, the technology exploration teacher, said the honor given to Miller was well deserved.
Dixon said he loves when teachers receive awards, and that Miller is hard-working and does a lot of things for the school. Dixon said he likes that award comes from hard work.
As the DMS teacher of the year, Miller is in the running for district teacher of the year. He is up against other site teachers of the year, including Lori Mitchell at Will Rogers Pre-K, Michael Allen at Emerson Elementary, Brandi Jones at Horace Mann Elementary, at Misty Biffle at Mark Twain Elementary, Elizabeth Dysart at Plato Elementary, Mindy Smith at Woodrow Wilson Elementary and Todd Ledford at Duncan High School.
The teacher of the year ceremony will take place at 4:15 p.m. Nov. 4, at First Baptist Church.
