Our next stop is Sierra Vista Middle School, where Kris Linville has just been named IUSD's Middle School Teacher of the Year. This time the reveal came during a mock fire drill. A surprised Linville was met by his wife, Angela, and their two children, along with his mother-in-law, Linda.Adding to the pomp and circumstance, Sierra Vista's Kathy Marvin, who won the honor last year at the local, county and state levels, presented Linville with a king's crown and cloak to wear. "You got me," he said as students offered their congratulations in the form of high-fives. "You got me good." Whether it’s a unit on golf, photography or web design, Linville has earned a reputation for challenging his students with hands-on experiences that reward and promote creativity. Direct instruction, group work, guided practice and metacognition are commonplace in his classes, and he consistently uses data, student feedback and reflection to hone his instruction. Perhaps most notable, Linville is a champion of technology use in the classroom, empowering staff across the district to use the latest innovations and tools to improve their own instructional methods and classroom management strategies. He also serves as the lead technology trainer for the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program. 