2016 Texas Teacher of the Year from Round Rock elementary
Revathi Balakrishnan uses ‘no nonsense’ teaching style.
This year, the Texas Teacher of the Year is from Round Rock.
Revathi Balakrishnan, talented and gifted teacher at Patsy Sommer Elementary School, was named Teacher of the Year and 2016 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year.
“It is not work for me,” Balakrishnan said. “It is actually a passion.”
Balakrishnan was named 2016 Round Rock school district Elementary Teacher of the Year in May and Region 13 Teacher of the Year in August. From there she advanced to the state level.
There are 20 educational regions in Texas that all advanced a candidate to the Teacher of the Year competition, Balakrishnan said.
Texas Association of School Administrators officials picked three finalists and from those Balakrishnan was chosen as 2016 Elementary Teacher of the Year for the state.
“We are so excited to celebrate Ms. Balakrishnan and her outstanding efforts and passion,” said Round Rock school district Superintendent Steve Flores. “World class schools start with caring educators working tirelessly for students, and she exemplifies that mission.”
Officials chose the Texas Teacher of the Year from the statewide elementary winner and secondary school winner.
“It’s a really nerve-racking process,” Balakrishnan said. “It’s nice to know that the practices you have in the classroom are validated now by the state.”
Balakrishnan has taught in the district’s talented and gifted program for nine years. She’s taught at Sommer Elementary for six of those years and before that was at Forest North Elementary for three years.
She currently teaches talented and gifted math classes in third through fifth grade at Sommer. She will represent Texas in the National Teacher of the Year competition.
“I’m an Indian-American, so I think the Indian community is feeling a lot of pride and joy,” she said.
About 30 percent of the students at Sommer Elementary are Asian or Indian, she said.
“I feel proud to represent those and I can convince a lot of younger generation Indian kids to turn to teaching for a career,” Balakrishnan said. “So I feel I can actually have some impact on that.”
Balakrishnan said with the spotlight now on her, she wants to represent the interests and views of teachers to school administrators and the state.
Balakrishnan attributes her success in education to her love of teaching and style of instruction. Her style of teaching is that of “no nonsense,” she said. If the lesson isn’t relevant or rigorous, Balakrishnan does not implement it in the classroom.
“All of us have different philosophies coming into teaching, but if you really look at different lesson plans or anything, it all boils down to the rigor and the relevance and building resilience and building relationships.”
Balakrishnan said her expansive reading habits have also helped her succeed as it enables her to bring relevant articles into the classroom to spur discussion.
Being in tune with what’s going on in the world is especially important for gifted students, she said, because they have “a sense of justice” and enjoy discussing world issues.
Sommer Elementary Principal Nancy Varljen said having Balakrishnan become Texas Teacher of the Year is an amazing honor for the school. “She is an outstanding educator who makes a difference for not only her students in the classroom, but for our campus and the global community,” Varljen said.
Balakrishnan said the excitement of teaching, learning with students and the opportunity to shape students who are the “leaders of tomorrow” drives her.
“Not one day is the same, which is what I like. I don’t like structure,” Balakrishnan said. “I just go with the flow and I love what happens.”