By Anna Grace Moore
Photos by Blair Ramsey
Teachers are often the first architects of their students’ self-confidence. With every lesson, they enable students to write into fruition their hopes and dreams.
Good teachers value the weight their words carry, and they impart them so delicately in the hearts of such moldable young souls. Montevallo High School (MHS) English and language arts (ELA) teacher Rylee Holt does not take this power lightly.
On Sept. 13, 2024, MHS named Rylee its “Teacher of the Year.”
“It means the world to me because it just means that other people are seeing where my heart is,” she says. “They see that my heart is in what I do. It’s nice to know that’s recognized.”
A Montgomery native, Rylee first moved to Shelby County to attend the University of Montevallo (UM), double-majoring in English and political science. She then received her master’s degree in secondary education with a focus in English from UM before earning a teaching position at MHS.
Through mutual friends, Rylee became connected with Beth House. Beth teaches ELA at MHS and encouraged her to apply for a vacant teaching position.
She started teaching during her last semester of graduate school and fell in love with the profession after her first day.
“It doesn’t matter how much you love your content or what you teach,” Rylee says. “It matters that you love kids.”
As a new teacher, Rylee says she focused on building intentional relationships with her students. Not only did she learn their parents’ names, but she learned their grandparents’ and siblings’ names, too.
Every morning when her students enter her classroom, she makes sure to smile and welcomes each one personally. Starting off each class period with a warm greeting sets the tone for the rest of the lesson.
“I get to be, for some of them, the first person to tell them good morning,” Rylee says. “Some of my students are coming from homes, where no one has said anything to them in the morning. I get to be that happy face to greet them, and I get to help try to make their day a little bit better.”
Rylee challenges herself each day to make each of her students feel loved. The best teacher, she says, is the one whose students know just how cherished they are.
This mindset is reaffirmed through the material taught in the classroom. Rylee’s favorite unit she teaches all year is poetry, and she laughs every year as her students inevitably grumble, complaining about how boring they think it will be.
One poem Rylee teaches each year is Langston Hughes’ “I, Too,” which is told from an African American man’s perspective, not being able to sit at the table when company comes.
Rylee has her students write their own renditions of “I, Too,” forcing them to verbalize and confront the injustices in their own lives. This practice involves students coming up with their own call to action–their own promise on paper to themselves that they can and will change the world around them for good.
Thoughts turn into words, and words turn into action, she says. The first step to igniting a cultural revolution is to write the idea down.
“I feel so invested in [them],” Rylee says, later adding, “a lot of my students aren’t just first-generation college goers, but they’re first-generation high school graduates. They are paving the way and doing something that has never happened at their house.”
Rylee has had students write poems, saying they will be the first person in their family to receive a high school diploma. She has noticed those same students walk a little taller and smile a little larger after this unit each year.
She believes that often, all these students need is to hear that someone believes in them.
Rylee’s “take it to the grave” book is “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini. She jokes that if ever schools say she cannot teach this novel, then she can no longer be a teacher.
“A Thousand Splendid Suns” tells the story of two women living in Afghanistan pre-9/11. The chapters are told in alternating timelines, and towards the end of the novel, readers marvel at how the characters’ fates intertwine.
The overarching theme of the novel is endurance. While it does not end happily for one character, she is able to impart this wisdom to her loved one–giving her the strength to escape.
Montevallo is a quaint, generational town, Rylee says. Her students will hopefully never experience the horrors they read about in this novel; yet, they are never as emotionally vulnerable as when reading this book.
“For them to be able to relate to people that they previously thought were so different from them is so great,” Rylee says. “It’s just the best experience. That is a book that I feel builds up their empathy muscles. It teaches them different hardships that people face around the world.”
Reading about empathy and compassion provides the foundation for students’ morality, she says. They judge their decision-making based on their own morals–the lens through which they perceive reality.
According to Langston Hughes and Khaled Hosseini, to usher in equality or peace, one must first vocalize these needs. Before that, however, he must hold steadfast to his beliefs.
Words transcend generations, inspiring hope in those who need it most. Rylee believes these future poets and authors–these trendsetters–are born in the classroom, and it is her responsibility to nurture their greatness.
Shelby County Schools hosted its annual awards ceremony on Dec. 12, 2024, honoring all of the school system’s nominees. Representing MHS, Rylee was elated to be chosen as Shelby County Schools’ High School Teacher of the Year.
In a video interview with Shelby County Schools, Beth spoke of her pride over Rylee winning this award.
“I cannot think of anybody more deserving,” she says of Rylee. “You truly do pour all of your energy and time into your students here at Montevallo, and we appreciate you, and we love you for that.”
Looking forward, Rylee vows to continue prioritizing her students, instilling in them the knowledge that they are loved and they possess the willpower to achieve their goals. If at the end of the day, that’s all her students know, she says she will have accomplished her most important job.
Local Impact
In a video interview with Shelby County Schools, several educators spoke about the impact Rylee Holt has left on Montevallo High School. Here’s what a few had to say:
“Mrs. Holt is a really good addition to Montevallo High School. When she came–and I don’t even know if I ever told her this–but she’s like one of those teachers that knows the things that you can’t teach teachers, and I told one of our assistant principals at the time how good I thought she was. He went and did the observation, and then he came and found me and was like, ‘You can’t teach that!’ I was like, ‘I told you! You can’t teach that!’”
– Beth House, Montevallo English and Language Arts Teacher
“She is one of the most thoughtful, caring teachers I’ve ever been around. She genuinely cares and goes out of her way for her students. They are the number-one priority to her.”
– Garrett Langer, Montevallo High School Biology Teacher
