District 241 will name its 2009 Teacher of the Year Wednesday in the commons area at Albert Lea High School. The ceremony begins at 3:30 p.m.

The event acknowledges all district Teacher of the Year finalists and concludes with two awards. The first award is the Teacher of the Year award from the Albert Lea Education Association and the other is the Apple Award, presented by the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce.

This year’s finalists are: Kristina Burnett, Sherrie Gayken, Jim Glaser, Deb Monson, Marcia Templeman, Heidi Venem and Margo Wayne.

Following is a little about each of the finalists.

Kristina Burnett, who teaches kindergarten at Halverson Elementary, has been with District 241 for 20 years. She earned her master’s degree from St. Mary’s University in 2004 and has also taken training in responsive classroom and peer mediation.

Burnett has done curriculum writing for 13 years, serves on the science committee, as a targeted services teacher, Albert Lea Education Association executive council alternate, Halverson A team and report card committee.

She was also nominated for Teacher of the Year in 2004.

Burnett teaches Sunday school at Calvary Baptist Church and helps with the Awana program there. She helped organize the recent benefit for the Loos family and has been a member of Halverson’s Relay for Life team for four years.

She has a husband, Brad; three daughters, Elizabeth, 18, Alexis, 16, and Sadie, 13; and a stepson, Brandon, 26.

She grew up in Albert Lea and actually attended Halverson from kindergarten through half of fifth grade.

Sherrie Gayken, who teaches sixth grade at Halverson Elementary, has also been with District 241 for 20 years. She has taught for more than 35 years. She has her master’s of education degree in educational leadership. She has also done course work in elementary remedial reading, secondary remedial reading, secondary developmental reading and coaching athletics.

Gayken has been a member of the teaching and learning council since its inception and served as co-chairwoman for a year. She has been sixth-grade Math Masters coach since 1998, served on the district curriculum committee for a year and on the targeted services committee for five years. She has done summer curriculum work for reading, math and a science for numerous years.

She has done extensive coaching in volleyball, softball and girls’ basketball and has served as a state-certified official in volleyball, basketball and softball.

Gayken was also nominated for Teacher of the Year in 1994, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2006. She was named Region 1AA Volleyball Coach of the Year by the Minnesota State High Volleyball Coaches Association in 1992 and Big Nine Volleyball Coach of the Year in 1991.

Gayken has a daughter, Darcie, who is an agriculture teacher in Lake Mills, Iowa. She enjoys reading, watching high school and college volleyball, basketball and softball; hunting and fly fishing.

“I feel blessed to have achieved many of the goals that I set for myself as a young teacher just starting out in my profession,” Gayken wrote.

Jim Glaser, who teaches third grade at Hawthorne Elementary, has been with District 241 for five years. He has a master of arts in education from St. Mary’s University. He is currently working on his administration license.

His work includes mentoring a student teacher, serving on the district social studies committee, writing social studies curriculum and doing social studies standards work. Glaser developed the free parent class, “How Can I Help a Third-Grader,” which teaches parents skills and concepts that third-graders need to be successful in school and in life.

He’s coached eighth-grade boys’ basketball, seventh- and eighth-grade girls’ basketball, eighth-grade softball, seventh-grade football and volunteered one year as the varsity girls’ basketball helper.

Glaser, who served in the Navy, was VFW commander in 2007-08. He also serves in the honor guard. He’s an active member of St. Theodore Catholic Church and serves as ShineFest coodinator there. He was a group leader for teens on a mission trip to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 2007. He is one of the leaders of Tiger Cub Troop Pack 105 and is on a Relay for Life team.

Glaser and his wife, Janet, have two children, Makenzie, a fourth-grader, and Mattison, a second-grader. Both children attend Halverson Elementary.

“I would like to someday create a school that has a great family involvement atmosphere,” Glaser said. “I want to make a positive impact on every school/child I teach,” he wrote.

Deb Monson, who is a business instructor at Albert Lea High School, has been with District 241 for 20 years. She has a master of science degree in curriculum and instruction. She has also done additional course work in computer technology and business course.

Monson has been the Business Professionals of America adviser for 15 years, the Region 9 event chairwoman for seven years and the Region 9 treasurer for seven years. She has been the school store adviser for nine years.

Monson was on the school technology committee for 10 years, the district technology committee for two years and served as the ALHS technology coordinator for two years.

She served as a Riverland Community College accounting advisory member for two years, junior high basketball coach for one year and was yearbook adviser for two years. She has completed curriculum writing to update and implement a variety of courses.

Monson was named the Minnesota Career and Technical Education Administration Teacher of the Year in 2002 and received the BPA Adviser Service Recognition Award.

Monson is a member of St. Theodore Catholic Church, where she is a Generations of Faith volunteer, children’s liturgy volunteer and confirmation sponsor. She is an active member of the Albert Lea Girls’ Basketball Association, Girls’ Track Boosters and has taught a variety of Community Education Courses.

Monson and her husband, Maurie, have one daughter, Chrissy, an eighth-grader at Southwest Middle School.

Marcia Templeman, who teaches special education at Albert Lea High School, has worked for District 241 for 21 years. She has her master’s degree in teaching and learning from St. Mary’s University.

Templeman has served on the special education advisory committee. She is a previous Teacher of the Year nominee, was named BPW Woman of the Month in 2000 and was named to Marquis “Who’s Who Women 2008.”

Templeman serves as a religious education teacher and lector at St. Theodore Catholic Church. She is co-chairwoman of the Albert Lea Boys’ Basketball Boosters.

Her family includes sons Sean, Evan, Jay and Joel; daughters-in-law Lauren and Mandi; grandsons Caden and Justin; and good friend, Bill.

Her hobbies include reading, sewing, shopping, cooking and watching sports.

Her professional goal, she said, is to continue to make a positive impact on the lives of students. Her personal goal, she added, “Is to raise my children to be happy, resilient, ethical, caring adults.”

Heidi Venem, who teaches special education at Southwest Middle School, has been with District 241 for 11 years. She has a master of science degree in learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disabilities.

She serves as a Professional Learning Community facilitator, was trained by Holt for the new middle school algebra curriculum, serves on the special education leadership team and the Southwest Middle School building leadership team and Targeted Services, an after-school program for at-risk youths.

Venem was previously nominated for Teacher of the Year.

She’s active on the Sibley Elementary parent committee and serves as a Sunday school teacher at Trinity Lutheran Church.

She and her husband, Chris, have two sets of twins, Jaiden and Josie, 5, and Jaxon and Jaeger, 3.

Her goal is to continue teaching in special education.

Margo Wayne, who teaches physical education and health at Albert Lea High School, has been with District 241 for 32 years. She has a master’s degree in education from St. Mary’s College.

Wayne has been head track coach in Albert Lea for 26 years. She was head girls’ cross country coach for the first five years of her teaching career and has been the B squad volleyball coach for 24 years. She was a “super chair” for the health and physical education department for two years and led the K-12 health and physical education department for two years and then again through the last North Central evaluation. She has written health and physical education curriculum and served as chairwoman of the Big Nine physical education/health curriculum meeting.

Wayne was a first-year inductee on the Wall of Inspiration, was Big Nine Track Coach of the Year in 1981 and 1993 and the Section Track Coach of the Year in 1993. She was also a Teacher of the Year nominee in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2008.

Outside school, she is active in the 4-H program and serves on many club, county and state committees. She’s the 4-H project leader in rabbits and runs the rabbit show at the county fair. She has also helped with the state 4-H goat show as well as the open horse show at the county fair.

She and her husband, Milton, live on a farm near Ellendale with their two children, Tiffany and Travis. Tiffany graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato with an English and technical communication degree. She travels the country as a rabbit judge. Travis is a freshman at Gustavus Adolphus College, where he is majoring in biology and pre-veterinary science.