Rodel honoree Colleen Frederick, right, of Estes Elementary talks with Christianna Trujillo about writing a short story.

jim davis / arizona daily star

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During a math lesson at Estes Elementary School last week, fourth-grade teacher Colleen Frederick asked for a volunteer. More than a dozen little hands shot into the air.

After being picked, 9-year-old Sarah Ramirez walked to the SMART board and drew a trapezoid.

All at once, the elements that make Frederick a Rodel Exemplary Teacher came together.

Frederick is one of five local educators selected for the 2007 Rodel Charitable Foundation of Arizona Exemplary Teacher Initiative from more than 1,000 teachers in schools with a large population of low-income students.

The SMART board — the chalkboard of the digital age — has been in use for about a year, Frederick said. Though it can be used just like a chalkboard or a dry-erase board, it also allows teachers to quickly link to the Internet for lessons. That's key, she said, because today's students are more hands-on, media-savvy and immediate than previous generations.

"It used to be, 22 years ago, I'd stand in front of the classroom and disseminate information," she said. "The reality is that's not how it is anymore."

New approaches to familiar lessons are what attracted Frederick to teaching, she said, recalling her own fifth-grade teacher, Mr. Kelly, who would take her class on walks through the neighborhood for various lessons.

"It wasn't work to us," she said. "He had a creative way of learning."

But traditional aspects of teaching — keeping students excited about learning and classroom volunteering, monitoring students' progress and being mindful of different learning styles — also are apparent in Frederick's classroom.

"She is the teacher other teachers aspire to be like," said Estes Principal Nancy Paddock. "She reaches students that are hard to reach because her accommodation and plans make them successful and raises their own expectations of themselves."

Frederick also has become a teacher others look to for guidance. She's the master mentor for first- and second-grade teachers at Estes, 11279 W. Grier Road, Paddock said. That role will continue with Rodel as she becomes a mentor for six local student teachers.

"She comes from a family of educators," said Carol Peck, president and CEO of the Rodel Foundation. "She believes in the power of high expectation."

Now in her eighth year at Estes, Frederick also has taught in Montana, Virginia and Colorado.

"Going from state to state, education is about the same," she said. "The one thing I've noticed is the big technology push."

However, she noted a significant difference in her new home state. Arizona has the shortest teaching day of all the places she has worked, she said. Students only have five hours a day of instruction, Frederick said, while in Virginia, school was seven hours and five minutes. Arizona is the hardest-working state for teachers, she estimates.

"Every minute of your day is focused on the kids," she said. "That's why I think the teachers here work so hard."