Teacher of the Year: 'I love what I do'

Chauncey Veatch receives the National Teacher of the Year award from President Bush.

(CNN) -- National Teacher of the Year Chauncey Veatch is relatively new to the field of education -- the retired colonel began teaching in 1995 after serving 22 years in the U.S. Army.

Almost all of his students at Coachella Valley High School, in southern California, were born in Mexico or Central America and are not native English speakers. About a third are in special education classes.

He learned Spanish to help communicate with his students and is very active in the Hispanic community.

Veatch said his students are a gift to him from their parents, and measures his success by their achievements -- achievements such as a Spanish-speaking student writing his first essay in English, or a special education student explaining the checks and balances system in a final exam.

He has been traveling across the United States since President Bush presented him the award in April, meeting with educators, lawmakers and other groups.

Veatch described his travels and his approach to teaching in an interview with CNN.

CNN: Do you have a core message that you share when you speak at events?

VEATCH: "The answer is yes and no. Each place is unique, just as every child that I was privileged to have in my classroom. So I don't go with a set message. I do research about the place: I want to learn about the program that I have been invited to present in front of. So, I do some work to also provide the setting or the information that particular group is inviting me to speak to them about.

Nonetheless, a few days before the president announced me as the National Teacher of the Year, the people who manage our program from Washington, D.C. indicated that they like for each National Teacher of the Year to have a general theme.

My theme, my overarching theme, is that I think American teaching is a marvel. I am very proud of its successes and I would like my audience, or whoever I am visiting with to join me in the classroom and I try to share with them what really happens in America's classrooms, what it's like to be a teacher, and how wonderful it is.

I marvel at the successes in our American education system.

We have a democracy. Our democracy will not thrive, much less survive, if our public, if the people who live here are not educated and are not literate."

CNN: Have you learned new techniques or seen new technologies that you plan to use when you go back to the classroom?

VEATCH: "As part of the legacy for Christa McAuliffe, when she perished in the (Space Shuttle) Challenger tragedy, the National Teacher of the Year is a part of Space Camp, so I spent almost two weeks in Huntsville, Alabama, at Space Camp.

Where that was helpful to me, was that we had guests from more than 20 foreign countries that were teachers. I learned a great deal about education systems in other countries, things, which can apply here since we have citizens from all parts of the globe.

And also ways that I can then relate in the future in my own classroom, what might be happening in Portugal or might be happening in Russia. It was a wonderful experience for me personally, so that I can now share as I travel around the country -- [and] ... when I return to my own classroom -- the insight that has given me into what's going on in other countries.

The linkage is that, through e-mail and the Internet, my kids can pursue that when I come back."

CNN: Since many of your students are not native English speakers, how does that affect your teaching style?

VEATCH: "First of all, I'm a native English speaker. I have worked very hard in the last several years to pick up Spanish and be as effective as I can.

Most of the parents of the students that I teach have come from either Mexico or Central America ...They are recent arrivals. They don't come speaking English. Most of the students I teach -- most --also were not born here in the United States. So, their native language is not English.

It's wonderful to work, to do the best that you can, to teach and share with them English so they have every opportunity to succeed in this country.

One thing I have done for a long time is whenever I write something on the board, more often than not I will also write it in Spanish so they can just visualize it. But I will also expand it: There will be some times where I might throw some German or Italian on the board ... so that language is not made so frighteningly impossible to achieve.

I raise the bar even further so that it's not just English or Spanish or French. It's just another way to expand the breadth of their decoding the labels, which is all language is.

Probably the most valuable lesson I learned when I began learning Spanish ... was that I did not feel confident speaking Spanish until I had a vocabulary. So, my primary emphasis is vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary, to constantly be introducing new English words and reinforcing words that we have already introduced."

CNN: What are you doing differently from other teachers that led to you being singled out for this award?

VEATCH: I would say the basis for which any teacher should be selected or be considered an outstanding teacher is very simple: It's the performance of your students. At the beginning of each school year, I can't wait, because each child -- and I teach high school students, but they're still my kids -- and I want them to be able to retain some of that for their entire life, the joyful enthusiasm of youth. I don't want that to be lost.

I view each of those students who come into my classroom as a gift their parents are giving me for part of the day and they share their children with me and I celebrate that package. I don't look and say 'Oh my goodness they're at this reading level, or they lack this or what was happening in the few grades below.' But rather I say there might have been a lot of miracles along the way that moved this child to where they are today.

My job though now is to take this gift that I have for the year and move them as far as I can in the course of the year. I don't mean remediate: I truly mean accelerate. Do everything I can for that school year to help that student achieve to the maximum possible level. And that's my job for the year, no more, no less.

When I was at the White House with President Bush, three Army captains, heavily decorated, came up to me and said 'Col. Veatch, we want to shake your hand and congratulate you and tell you that we're proud to be in the Army and you're our hero.'

I said without even thinking that what I really wish is that you could come to my school and meet my heroes ... non-native English speakers going on and winning the district spelling bee.

The students I was teaching finish very highly, first place and other places, the first year I was teaching science in the school, in the district and in the county science fairs.

My kids in social studies, winning in the first year at the high school, being selected over advanced placement and honor students at our own school, going in and winning first place in History Day and then winning it at the district level and winning at the county level and coming in runner-up at state. What a tremendous achievement.

This particular group, which included one student who was special-ed, none of the students were English-speakers before the fifth grade, and two of them were not English-speakers until eighth grade. And yet, they were runner-ups for the state for History Day. California is a large state.

These are the types of achievements that my students have accomplished.

I could go on and on. That's just a small sample.

I have two students that qualified for $50,000 signing bonuses -- one to go in the Air Force, one to go in the Army. That's a cash gift. The military services want them so badly because of their scores.

I'm just terribly proud of my students."

CNN: Do a lot of students come back to see you after they get out of your class?

VEATCH: "My contact is constant. In fact, I'm looking at my computer and I have 11 e-mails that I have to respond to. While I'm on the road, they understand my schedule. But, every student that I taught this last year -- and I had 174 -- has my e-mail address and we can keep in touch. And we do.

Another example, last year I had 34 seniors in my class. It was only my second year teaching at the high school. Out of my 34 seniors, 17 of them have entered college to become teachers. Isn't that a remarkable percentage? I never once said -- and I still have never said -- that 'you might want to consider being a teacher.' I've never said that.

What I guess I must be saying is 'I love what I do.' What they must be able to see is the reward that I derive from teaching. Because for one-half of the seniors to enter college with their goal of being teachers is an almost unprecedented percentage.

That to me speaks to their achievement, because they have made the decision to serve the public. They've made the decision to serve our country because by being a teacher you do serve your country. You are being a patriot."