Alumna Featured in CBS Special “Teach”

By Allison R. Stormo

College of Education alumna Shelby Harris made an appearance in the living room of TV viewers across the U.S. last fall.

Harris was one of four public school teachers featured in the two-hour CBS special “Teach.” The 1998 graduate in elementary education teaches seventh-grade math at Kuna Middle School. During the 2012-13 school year, video cameras followed Harris, along with teachers Joel Laguna of Los Angeles, Lindsay Chinn of Denver, and Matt Johnson of Denver.

Actress Queen Latifah hosted the special, which was directed and produced by Davis Guggenheim — best known for his documentaries “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Waiting for Superman” as well as the TV series “Deadwood,” “Numb3rs” and “NYPD Blue.” Harris and the other teachers involved also spent some time in Los Angeles filming parts of the special with Latifah.

Harris said cameras were in the room every day during the first few weeks of the school year, but the filming then dwindled to once a week or every two weeks or so.

“It became just a part of what we were doing,” she said.

The special was a Participant Media and Pivot TV Presentation and Little Room production. “Teach” kicked off Participant Media’s 18-month social action campaign in partnership with Teach.org to inform and engage students and recent graduates as they consider career choices. The initiative aims to rebrand and reinvigorate interest in the teaching profession.

Harris caught the attention of the director through her involvement in the nation’s first statewide implementation of the Khan Academy, an Idaho pilot project with financial backing from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation. Khan Academy is an online tutorial site that allows Idaho students to utilize technology to learn new concepts in the classroom and allows teachers to offer more one-onone instruction.

“It’s been powerful,” Harris said of the project. “I thought that it would distance me from the kids, but it’s been completely the opposite. I teach better now than I have in 13 years. They get more teaching time from me now than they ever did before.”

She and her husband, Chadd (’99, elementary education), have enjoyed working together in Kuna as well as the bonds they share with their students.

In November, Harris was able to explore where her career began when the College of Education, along with the Albertson Foundation and Washington State University, sponsored a special public showing of “Teach” at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre. She made the trip to Moscow for the event, where she visited with education students and the Kenworthy audience of “Teach.”

“My favorite part [of being involved in the special] has been getting to go to L.A. and coming here to Moscow,” she said. “I didn’t realize how emotional it would be.”

The campus visit was only the second time Harris had returned since graduation, and she was caught off guard by the memories that came flooding back.

“When I walked into the Education Building, I thought, ‘This is awesome.’ ”

She recalled the classes she shared with her husband and the many faculty members who played a vital role in helping shape her. The College of Education gave her the foundation on her path to “Teach.”