Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Eric Buckman, a kindergarten teacher at R.C. Waters Elementary School in Oak Harbor, has earned a quarterfinal round berth in the America’s Favorite Teacher national contest.
The competition, which awards one outstanding teacher with $25,000, a feature in Reader’s Digest, a trip to Hawaii and a virtual school assembly with Bill Nye, has already seen Buckman advance through six rounds.
Most recently, Buckman won the wild card round, which he landed in after finishing second in national group stage competition.
Votes have been reset, and quarterfinal round voting is now open through April 17 at 10 p.m. ET.
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VOTE FOR ERIC BUCKMAN
To vote for Buckman, visit here.
*Quarterfinal voting is now open and concludes April 17 at 10 p.m. ET
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“This is a national competition,” Buckman said.” I don’t think I see it as I’m going to win, but I also don’t know that I couldn’t win. When you look at the people that I’m competing against, I assumed that there would be a lot of people in this that were celebrity status. For example, I think one of the teachers is a former UFC fighter.
“I have a feeling those are going to be the people who are probably going to be first in these next rounds. But 98 percent of the people in this are like me. They’re just random teachers who have been teaching for a long time, somehow got involved in this and are just asking for support.”
Buckman said the effect of social media and the daily vote is important, especially as the contest enters the quarterfinal round, where all votes are reset each round. WTOL recently did a story on the competition, and he said that really helped along with being active on local town Facebook pages.
“I figured I'd be in 15th or 20th place and make it through the first week,” Buckman said. “I didn't expect to (potentially) even make it to this quarterfinal. So this is just crazy how many people had to vote because I was in second place (and now in first). It took hundreds of people voting daily to get me past that point because there's thousands and thousands of votes that go into this, and they're counting every single one as a point.
“It's very cool. Somebody asked me one time, they were joking. I think it was one of my cousins, who asked me if I thought I could win this, and I said, I don't even think I could fathom winning this competition.”
But Buckman is still alive, and he said it’s a little unclear how exactly he was entered into the contest, but he said one of his students, Koda, who was the star of the WTOL interview, was a key factor.
“It was an amazing interview,” Buckman said of Koda. “He had been saying over and over that he’s going to vote for me. It’s really cool that I have a class with kids like Koda who are just super intelligent. He’s reading at a pretty high level.”
Buckman said that’s the true story of this. It’s not how he was nominated. It’s the support that came from Koda and all the parents, and the involvement that they had with this, which he said is impressive.
And Buckman loves his job. He enjoys being able to influence and help kids like Koda learn and grow.
“That’s the biggest part of this, the influence that you have on kids, the parents and the community when you see kids like Koda who are doing so well and are so intelligent,” Buckman said. “It just makes my job so much easier, but then at the same time, especially with a grade level like kindergarten, that’s also the challenge because I have kids who are so high, then you have other kids who are struggling. And you’re trying to meet the needs of all those kids and differentiate your instruction.
“I enjoy that challenge. I always have, and I think that’s why I love teaching, and that’s why I love coaching because of the growth that you can see from kids who are struggling, kids that are right in the middle that have it, and the kids that are so high, and you’re watching them all grow and by the end of the year, you’re seeing all the progress they’ve made. That’s really what teaching is about, and it’s neat seeing that in the later periods, like when they’re older.”
Should he win the $25,000 grand prize, Buckman said he plans to put that money back into the education of his class and students, potentially purchasing iPads, which they could use to email authors and allow them a device to respond to postcards from around the world that they receive through their Journey Journal project – among other uses of course.
“It’s impacting kids,” Buckman said. “Obviously, I’m personally impacted by this, but I think there’s something to be said for a competition of a national magnitude like this. The fact that I’ve gotten this far is just unreal. It’s very surreal, and it’s humbling that so many people have supported me.”
Buckman came to Oak Harbor to teach 20 years ago after originally growing up in Geneva, Ohio and graduating from Hiram College. He originally taught kindergarten, but then slid over to second grade at Graytown Elementary for the last couple years of that building. He would have stayed on that course, but the building closed. He ultimately decided to go back to teaching kindergarten because of the stability, where he is now at R.C. Waters.
Overall, Buckman has taught kindergarten for approximately 15 years in the school district, and he said the district has been amazing for him as a teacher.
“We have bathrooms in our classroom,” he said. “I have a walk-in closet for my kids’ storage. It’s incredible. I’ve been in a lot of districts, and there aren’t very many that have kindergarten rooms like we have. There just isn’t. It’s just incredible what Benton-Carroll-Salem has been able to offer.”
Buckman was originally hired by former district superintendent, Fred Schnoor, and he said it was interesting landing in Oak Harbor with nearby Davis-Besse as he grew up near the nuclear power plant in Perry. The two interacted about that connection.
“When I met Fred, he had a map up by where he was set up,” Buckman said. “That was our first conversation. I didn’t realize that Oak Harbor was this town that a power plant was located in. My dad worked for Perry for a while and worked out of Ashtabula, so that was kind of neat. My point is that when I moved to Oak Harbor, I noticed how small the town is, but it’s not small. Everyone’s connected. Oak Harbor is a town of a lot of people who are connected to each other. They’re related to each other. They know each other, but at the same time, as an outsider, you become part of that family.”
Now that outsider who came to town 20 years ago has a chance at national recognition.
Should Buckman keep advancing, votes would be reset again and one winner from each quarterfinal advances to the semifinals, which take place April 18-24. Once that ends, the two finalists will compete for the grand prize April 25-May 1.
The grand prize winner will be announced on or around May 31.
For more information, visit AmericasFavTeacher.org.
