Dave Vixie, teacher at Paradise Adventist Academy, has a teaching style that comes from an interesting source. When Vixie was 16 years old, a rancher named Elmer promised to give Vixie a horse if he would train it. When Vixie told Elmer that he did not know how to train the horse, he told him that he could teach him. That experience served to be very valuable to Vixie’s teaching ability.

“We stood with the horse, didn't beat it—didn't do anything—just guided it gently and spoke to it,” said Vixie. “One day Elmer said, 'All right, it's time to get on the back of that horse.' And it was trained. I think that what he taught me is still useful to me today: to observe the behavior of the herd and teach without fear or force."

Vixie has been chosen from more than 50,000 nominees nationwide to receive the 2005 Disney Teacher Award in celebration of his creativity, innovative teaching methods and ability to inspire his students. His “without fear or force” method of teaching can be seen in the creative ways he gets his students to be active in history.

"I got an old covered wagon and had the students build it," said Vixie. "The activities they do are large. It's not just about people going cross country in the 1800s; it's about people who had dreams, a goal, and all these hardships they had to go through to reach it."

The impact that Vixie has had on students has been immense. "As an instructor, Mr. Vixie instilled in me the values and work ethic which would prove to be essential to my success as I embarked on my college career,” said Jason Thomas, a former student. "Mr. Vixie provided me with the one tool I most needed to succeed scholastically, as well as in life: the ability to learn. It is this attribute which separates David Vixie from other instructors."

As part of his award, Vixie will attend the professional development institute at Walt Disney World Resort. He will also work with experts from the Center for Collaborative Education in Boston to design a school-wide plan for making teaching more effective.

Vixie is looking forward to meeting with other teachers to increase the effectiveness of teaching. "The professional development is one of the things that I am most excited about," said Vixie. "It's wonderful that they're going to take us out for a week and let us collaborate with other teachers who are quality teachers. I am constantly looking for ideas and ways to improve my teaching. It's an adventure, and that's the way I teach, as an adventure."