Chiller receives national award

A Whitehall High School teacher was the recent recipient of a prestigious national award.

Caitlin Chiller was one of 15 teachers nationwide to earn the National Council of Teachers of English 2017 High School Teacher of Excellence Award.

Chiller said she was happy to receive the award, especially because she was nominated by her teaching colleagues throughout the state.

“I didn’t realize they had been considering me so I was pleasantly surprised. I feel very honored,” she said. “To have recognition what I’m doing is exemplary and outstanding reinforces what I’m doing is the right thing in the classroom.”

Chiller joined the Montana Association of Teachers six years ago and now serves as their President.

She said while teachers don’t get to work directly with each other in the classroom, it is exciting to get together with fellow association members to share ideas and talk about what works and what doesn’t.

Her first teaching job was on the Fort Peck Reservation where Chiller spent three years. She said it was a challenging experience, but loved it in a lot of ways. She said the students were eager to learn and wanted to do well.

Chiller said she learned how to be adaptive to the Native culture and how to reach her students. Prior to coming to Whitehall, Chiller worked four years in the Sun River Valley School District near Great Falls. During this time Chiller said she learned how to teach in a small community and school. She said it was similar to Whitehall in a lot of ways with a lot of support from parents and the community.

Chiller said while at school she may be alone in her classroom, but is not truly alone because she has a whole entire community that wants to be successful.

Chiller, who will be entering her third year with the district in the fall, said her favorite part of teaching is the relationship with students and seeing them grow.

She said they may not start the year confident in their abilities, but at the end of the year they know they did a good job and feel confident about what they learned.

At the end of the 2016-17 school year Chiller had her seniors in the College Writing 101 class look at their writing throughout the year.

“They could recognize and see their own growth and to me that is the best part of teaching,” she said.

Chiller will be recognized for the award at the NCTE Secondary Section Luncheon that will take place Saturday, November 18 in St. Louis.

WHS Principal Hannah Nieskens said Chiller winning the award is a big deal, everyone is very proud of her, and they also plan to recognize her during a ceremony at the school next school year.