A Neuqua Valley High School teacher has been nominated for an award recognizing him as what many teachers strive to be — a “LifeChanger.”
Rob Kos is a special education teacher at the Naperville school in Indian Prairie School District 204, where he co-teaches a geometry class and helps students build academic skills and confidence.
While he teams up with a general education teacher to take turns leading lessons, he also gets the chance to help students individually — and to be noticed by those around him for the way he forms relationships with “humility and kindness,” as his nomination reads.
“I think building connections with students is really where I’m able to make a difference,” Kos said.
Naperville teacher could be among 16 national honorees
Anonymously, someone from the Neuqua community nominated Kos for the LifeChanger of the Year Award, a recognition from National Life Group that honors 16 educators and their schools with cash prizes.
Kos could find out this spring if he’s among this year’s honorees. And either way, he says the nomination is an affirmation of his work.
“Winning the award would reaffirm the value of being able to teach struggling students — having them realize their strengths in order to help them face their own adversities and see success,” Kos said.
Building trust to meet student needs
Kos is in his 24th year of teaching, and his 20th at Neuqua. Growing up in Brookfield, both of his parents were teachers, and he said he’s long felt drawn to assisting students with special needs.
Working in special education, he’s taught or co-taught a variety of courses, including driver’s education, chemistry, physics, health, and study skills. But the mainstay for Kos has been geometry.
“We work with students who generally have struggled with math or are not fond of math,” he said. “So we get to see them persevere through some of these challenges.”
No matter which student he’s working with, Kos said he — and his co-teachers and other staff at Neuqua — build an environment of trust, where students can address their thoughts and concerns.
“When you’re meeting them at their academic needs and you’re building them up from there, you get to see those successes that may seem trivial,” said Kos, who has built his own teaching skills through a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and a master’s from Benedictine University. “We get to see some of those small battles won, and they might be monumental for that student that’s struggling.”
‘To inspire and make a difference’
The nomination recommending Kos, a married father of two, for the LifeChanger award mentions one specific instance when he noticed a student “visibly frustrated and having difficulty completing a math worksheet.”
“Kos took a whiteboard and marker, sat beside the student, and patiently broke the problem down into manageable steps,” the nomination says. “He remained with the student, even after the bell rang, to ensure the assignment was completed.”
The LifeChanger award “provides a platform for schools and communities to celebrate” those who make a difference, according to the program webpage, and it also offers a grand prize of $20,000. But the mission of teaching is not really about awards or big grants, Kos said.
“It’s an honor to be nominated,” he said. “Honestly, you never quite know who you’re making a difference with … but that’s the reason most teachers go into teaching — to inspire and make a difference.”
Photo courtesy: Indian Prairie School District 204
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