For the six finalists of the Francisco R. Walker Teacher of the Year award, teaching isn’t just a career — it’s a calling.

Some of the finalists have dreamed of being a role model in the classroom since they were young. Others felt education was the best avenue for helping others.

Each year, one teacher out of 20,000 full-time educators from Miami-Dade public schools receives this recognition.

Since 1973, the county has presented the award to an educator who has significantly excelled as a leader in the classroom. The award is named for an Edison Middle School educator who was the first teacher in Miami-Dade to lose his life in the line of duty on school property when he was stabbed by a youth trespassing on school grounds in 1982.

The winner of the award will receive $3,500, a new car from Kendall Toyota and a $4,500 scholarship to Nova Southeastern University’s School of Education. The winner will also move on to become a finalist for the Florida Teacher of the Year award. All six finalists receive $1,000 cash and a $1,000 scholarship to Nova. The runner-up receives an additional $1,000.

The county’s Teacher of the Year will be announced Feb. 3.

Last year’s county Teacher of the Year, Agustin Grana, has one piece of advice for this year’s winner: Don’t let the award change you.

“You’re one of many outstanding teachers throughout the county,” said Grana, who teaches students with intellectual disabilities in ninth through 12th grades at Southwest Miami High School. “You got to this point because of your work ethic and the great things you do in the classroom. People are going to continue to look up to you and look for your leadership, guidance and opinion.”

Leticia Bacallao

In Leticia Bacallao’s fifth-grade classroom at Meadowlane Elementary School in Hialeah, her students learn to see the teacher not only as their educator, but also as their friend. Bacallao admired this quality in two teachers she had growing up.

“I remember thinking, ‘I want to be just like them,’ ” said Bacallao, the north region finalist.

Bacallao has been teaching at Meadowlane for seven years. Before this year, she taught third-grade retention and ESOL classes.

Bacallao’s philosophy as a teacher is to push her students to be more confident. She thinks her “cheesy” personality makes it easy.

One day in class, Bacallao told her students that she did not enjoy a story required by the curriculum. The students were surprised that a teacher would say something like that.

“I teach them that it’s OK to not like something,” said Bacallao, 27, who lives in Hialeah Gardens with her husband. “They start to express their own voices. We’re in an environment where you don’t have to be sheltered.”

By being relatable and putting in extra effort, Bacallao challenges her students to “aim for their best.”

“I wake up a little earlier and stay up a little later, but when they get an A and you see that gleam in their eye, you realize it’s all worth it,” she said.

Alexandre Lopes

Alexandre Lopes finds value in simply going to the classroom every day.

Lopes, 43, teaches a Learning Experiences: Alternative Program (LEAP) class, which comprises autistic pre-kindergarten students, at Carol City Elementary School.