AUBURN – Moments after Michelle Gagne was told she had won a national teaching award and $25,000, she sat on the floor with her students.

The Sherwood Heights Elementary School teacher’s first-graders shared the joy by piling on her as Gagne wore a stunned look on her face. She momentarily struggled with what to say.

“I don’t know. I think it’s so important that people understand how hard teachers work,” she said. “This is a great moment for Sherwood Heights. I’m really excited to share it with the kids because this is what it’s all about.”

Gagne, an eight-year teacher at Sherwood Heights, was selected as the Maine winner of the 2008 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award.

Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron came to Sherwood Heights to make the surprise announcement.

Gendron told students gathered for an assembly that she had a secret and was going to give them hints so they could figure it out.

The secret had to do with their teachers and about teachers who are excellent, Gendron said. She asked students to offer “a big thank-you to every teacher in the room by clapping as loud as you can.”

While athletes, movie stars and scientists get awards, “there isn’t a lot of recognition for teachers in our country, and there should be,” Gendron said. A man named Lowell Milken decided 22 years ago he was going to do something special every year in every state to recognize a teacher who demonstrates how excellent teachers are.

The lucky teachers would attend a big gala where everyone wears tuxedos or evening gowns and is treated like royalty, she said.

“They also get something else. What would be a good prize for a teacher?”

“A million dollars,” one student answered.

The prize isn’t $1 million, but it is money, Gendron said. “Have you figured out my secret? Shall we figure out how much money this wonderful teacher is going to receive from the Milken Family Foundation?”

In game-show style, Gendron called on individual students to come to the front of the gymnasium and hold a number until six students spelled out $25,000.

By now the auditorium was full of cheers.

“The 2008 Milken teacher award-winner is Michelle Gagne,” Gendron said, adding that Gagne would be “treated like a princess” at the spring gala in Los Angeles.

Gagne covered her face and hugged first-grader Aaron Haas, who was sitting in her lap. Gagne smiled and cried. She was hugged by students, teachers, her family.

“Congratulations to you for representing all the fabulous teachers in the state of Maine,” Gendron said.

Gagne was credited with being a creative, problem-solving teacher who has designed two programs to encourage positive classroom attitudes. She encourages students to use words like “confidence,” “self-control” and “expectations,” which helps students know how they’re to behave in school.

Recently, Gagne was a finalist in the Maine Teacher of the Year contest. She thought about what she would say, which she shared Tuesday as she stood at the podium.

“Once in a while you get to be really, really lucky,” Gagne said. “That usually happens when you work hard and make good choices.”

Students do that every day by coming to school and working hard, just as teachers do, she said.

“I get to stand here and say thank you for making my job fun,” Gagne said. “I love it here, and now I get to say thank you with a lot of money.”