- From a very young age, I knew that education was like your ticket anywhere.

My name is Becky Diamond, I'm a teacher at Dry Creek Elementary, and I teach sixth grade.

- Becky goes beyond her job requirements, she's usually one of the first people at school, and usually one of the last.

- One of the first things you notice about Becky is she is crazy positive.

(laughing) Like no matter how hard or what the challenge is, she overcomes it with like the most positive attitude you've ever seen.

- I grew up in a home with a dad with cerebral palsy, he was always making things and learning about things, and I grew up watching that and I wanted to be like my dad.

And my dad didn't know how to read, and that made it really hard for him to learn, but he never gave up.

- One of the things that she felt so strongly is, "I will never let a child leave my classroom without being able to read."

She knows how to help those struggling readers in a way that just inspires them and they're just excited to learn.

- She doesn't expect everyone to get everything perfect all the time, and I think that making her classroom a safe place, kids are willing to try it.

They know that if they make a mistake, that's part of the learning process.

- I love sixth grade because they are at this level where they can take different skills and put them together, and they can do real world science.

- She came up with the idea to have the students create an ablative shield like on the spaceships.

- And we had already learned earlier in the year about insulators and conductors, and we compiled a list of different materials that could be used.

- They had an egg that they had to protect from a blowtorch.

- And then at the end, we brought our eggs inside, and using our criteria, we determined which shield was the most effective.

It's just so much fun.

- She's got a skill of making them feel like they matter in the world.

They walk into junior high confident and proud of themselves, and they're able to connect things that maybe other students can't.

- We want our students to be lifelong learners.

In teaching, you often feel like you can never do enough to meet every child's needs, and that can be really hard, and so when somebody nominates you for an award, it made me feel appreciated and loved, and I think most people don't feel that enough in their life.

- Brandon and I have always talked about how like there's us and then there's Becky, like everybody else and then there's Becky, she's just kind and good.

- She just has so much caring about everyone.

- And we've all gone through a rough year, but hers has been especially rough, she's just like faced it all, and she kind of goes under the radar and just does it.

Yeah, she's awesome.

- When I think about students that I have had over the years that had different struggles and that I reached out to to try and help in one way or another, maybe it was academically, or maybe they didn't feel like they fit in and they just needed somebody who really liked Star Wars to be their teacher, to know that school could be fun, school's important, and that they're loved.

Being a teacher, in some ways, is like adopting a whole bunch of kids, and it's just so exciting to see that and know that you got to be part of their life.

(bright music)