IWU’s teacher education programs help you build the skills and experience needed to create transformative learning environments—just like Megan Johnson.
September 30 began like any other day for Megan Johnson, an Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) alumna and fourth grade teacher at Central Elementary School in Plainfield, Indiana. After a morning of teaching, Johnson and her class filed into the school’s gymnasium for what she believed would be a live interview with an astronaut.
But when Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner entered alongside former Teacher of the Year recipients, Johnson quickly realized this was not a live interview: she was being named the 2026 Indiana Teacher of the Year.
Having lived and taught in the Plainfield community her entire career, Johnson earned this honor through years of dedication. After being named both Building Teacher of the Year and District Elementary Teacher of the Year, Johnson was nominated by the Plainfield district for State Teacher of the Year, which included intense rounds of interview panels and examination of her teaching philosophy by the Indiana Department of Education (DOE).
When Johnson was named a Top 7 nominee, she decided that anything beyond that point would be a blessing from God. A few weeks later, that blessing arrived.
“There was a knock at my door, and my principal walked in with six DOE leaders and previous Teachers of the Year,” Johnson recalled. “Anne Marie Milligan, the DOE director of recruitment and retention, handed me a Top 3 plaque, and I was blown away.”
As Johnson processed the moment, Milligan turned to Johnson’s students and said, “Alright, we’re going to be in your classroom for the next couple of hours. We just want to watch your teacher teach!”
That unannounced observation became one of Johnson’s favorite moments in the process.
“When I talk about all of my best practices, that’s wonderful, but it’s really the climate of my classroom that I want people to feel. My students and my classroom are the reason I won Teacher of the Year.”
While Johnson was surprised by the recognition she received on Sept. 30, she believes God had been preparing her.
“Our message at church during the interview process was over the idea that God has made us for such a time as this,” she said. “I’ve been praying along the way that God would use me how He wants.”
As Teacher of the Year, Johnson looks forward to presenting her classroom philosophies statewide and allowing God to fill in the gaps. Her central approach, which she refers to as “Anchor to Launch,” guides everything she does.
“It means anchoring my students and myself to the classroom to launch them later into their life,” she explained. “Everything I do develops world changers.”
One anchor in Johnson’s classroom is the use of learning bags filled with active tools, such as color-changing pens and sensory objects, to help students build literary competency.
“Research has shown that if a fourth grader does not have the necessary pillars in place to read well, their chances of success after high school are slim,” Johnson said. “I cannot let students leave my classroom without an opportunity to succeed.”
Johnson also prepares her students to launch into the world with compassion. She partners with local nonprofits to pack toiletry bags for students in need and uses family connections in Texas to host a virtual pen pal program.
“We learn about different cultures,” she said. “When my students interact with children who are similar but different from them, I bring the world into our classroom and expose them to a bigger world filled with so many careers and people.”
Amid the whirlwind of presentations, speaking engagements, and interviews, Johnson remains grounded in her mission to serve her students well.
“I grow my students’ hearts by teaching them to love other people, and I grow their minds by pushing them academically in a loving way.”
God called Johnson for such a time as this, and the IWU community celebrates the difference she’s making as she changes the world for Christ.
IWU’s teacher education programs help you build the skills and experience needed to create transformative learning environments—just like Megan Johnson.
