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Cleveland: State honors Bradley teacher

By: Chloé Morrison
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Luajean Bryan

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — A Walker Valley High School math teacher who almost didn’t go to college and had no plans to become an educator recently was named Tennessee Teacher of the Year.

“I came from a home where my parents had not had the opportunity to get a formal education,” Luajean Bryan said. “My mother and dad weren’t even able to go to high school. When I finished high school, they were satisfied that I was finished.”

But Ms. Bryan wanted to go to college. So she asked her principal, Ralph Nunley, to talk to her father. Her father eventually agreed that Ms. Bryan could go to college on one condition.

“Daddy agreed if I promised to be a teacher,” Ms. Bryan said. “I agreed, fully planning inside my head that I was going to go on and be an engineer.”

Eventually she took a teaching job because she needed a paycheck, she said. This year she began her 36th year of teaching. Her father saw the potential for her to be a good teacher, she said.

“My dad made a really good choice,” she said.

The Teacher of the Year program, in part, aims to provide teachers a network, encourage professionalism and promote effective teaching practices by recognizing and rewarding outstanding teachers, according to the Tennessee Department of Education Web site.

Ms. Bryan said she was astonished to win the award. Carol Peace, assistant principal at Walker Valley High School, said a humble personality is part of Ms. Bryan’s charm.

“She is amazed at the fact she is being recognized,” Ms. Peace said.

Ms. Bryan stands out because of her innovative teaching techniques, Ms. Peace said. She helped create a curriculum that allowed her calculus students to study a hot-air balloon and how it relates to mathematics. Then she took students on a hot-air balloon ride, Ms. Peace said.

“She is very creative and has pursued many avenues to enhance instruction,” she said.

State officials said teaching is a tough but rewarding career.

“Recognizing the hard work of some of the state’s outstanding educators also gives us pause to show gratitude to all teachers making a positive difference in the lives of Tennessee students,” Connie Smith, assistant commissioner for accountability and teaching and learning, said in a prepared statement.

Ms. Bryan said the best part of her job is touching students’ lives. She’s had a much bigger impact as a teacher than she might have as an engineer, she said.

“It feels like I enable the dreams of others,” she said.

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