You'll find out very soon. The Exchange Club of Irvine, the Irvine Teachers Association and the Irvine Unified School District have selected a trio of top educators to receive Teacher of the Year honors for 2009-10. Today, we're surprising each of the honorees at their schools. In the next few hours, a caravan of ITA leaders, district staff and Board members Gavin Huntley-Fenner, Sue Kuwabara and Sharon Wallin will visit a handful of IUSD campuses to name this year's Elementary, Middle and High School Teachers of the Year. Four outstanding first- and second-year teachers will also be recognized as "Teachers of Promise." District Newsflash will make the rounds as well, and we're going to do our best to post the winners on this site in real-time. Of course, that means relaying information via the tiny keyboard on our iPhone - yes, there's an app for that - so we hope you'll forgive any typos. As a little background, IUSD's Teacher of the Year program is now in its 24th year. Nominations are annually submitted by district employees, and candidates are later interviewed by committees made up of teachers, principals, district administrators and Exchange Club members. Those committees ultimately narrow the field to the final three based on the following criteria: Evidence of a wide range of instructional strategies used effectively; commitment to the teaching profession; and demonstration of the Irvine teachers’ values of integrity, empowerment, learning, collaboration and trust. So who made the cut this year? Check back with us soon to find out.