Kansas Master Teacher Award
2003 Kansas Master Teacher
Sixth Grade Science and Language Arts Teacher
"Commitment is the key to a successful teacher/student experience. A teacher should see the child not as he is, but what his capabilities could be and what they can become. In the critical elementary years, when the foundation for further educational achievements must be laid, setting the standards of excellence is mandatory for the students, the classroom, as well as, the teacher. Teaching is an occupation that isn't 'eight to four'. This labor of love includes numerous hours developing curriculum, teaching strategies, and visual displays to stimulate sensory perception in the student. Learning styles are different in each child, and providing for the multitude of diversity in those styles is an issue that certainly must be addressed."
Honors and Awards
Barber County North U.S.D. 254 Elementary Teacher of the Year
Finalist Oklahoma Teacher of the Year
Masonic Teacher of the Year
Lincoln Elementary and Alva Public Schools Teacher of the Year
Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year
McDonald's Teacher of the Year
"Channel 5" Teacher Who Cares Award
Alva Education Foundation Grant Recipient
What People Say
Jonathan Bushman, who is currently a Political Science/Pre-Med student at the University of Central Oklahoma writes: "From rabbit droppings to reading huts to an adopted grandparent, I experienced it all. Never have I learned more from a teacher than in fourth grade, when Mrs. Tina Buck taught me life. . . For me rabbit droppings bring responsibility, plastic reading huts inspire devotion, and an adopted grandparent births the compassion I need for the future. All of these lessons could not have been more cleverly instituted than by Mrs. Tina Buck, who used the most simple, yet practical objects to enlighten me about life."
"Tina Buck is the epitome of teaching," writes Cathy Colborn a parent and partner in teaching 6th grade. "She is a master of being a friend of the students, yet being in control of her classroom and disciplining with love and respect. Every day students wait eagerly for science class to begin, as they know that an activity awaits that is enjoyable as well as educational. From cutting out their body shape out of material and placing internal body parts correctly, while telling what their function is, to having the metric Olympics, with such events as the cotton ball throw, a student always knows that fun is part of the process. . . Students can't help but learn by just walking into her classroom. Animals abound to help add to the special classroom atmosphere that is used to inspire creativity and higher level thinking skills."