Questions and Answers
The following are responses to a district set of questions given to Teacher of the Year candidates.
A teacher leader is someone who affects student outcomes in classrooms beyond their own. Describe how you have been a teacher leader in your school, district, or subject year.
With the onset of Coronavirus that sent us all home for instruction and learning in a non-traditional, my school of over 2300 students had to devise a plan as to how we could make this work. A few were familiar with using TEAMS and various applications, but there was no hub of information for teachers or students on how to use the technology provided by DCPS. I worked as a consultant, trainer, and/or facilitator and go-to answer person for all things related to TEAMS. I answered questions from not only administration, faculty, and staff, but also students and parents. Training the adults to become comfortable using the technology was my goal. If the students felt assured of their teachers’ confidence and proficiency with the technology, there would be less stress for our students, and more learning. Once we all found some rhythm in the process, it opened opportunities for everyone to support each other, whether it was students helping students, teachers helping students and even students helping teacher to understand the functionality of the technology platforms, we were all learning how to travers this no-so-optimal situation together. This year has by far been the year we ALL learned how to better use technology – and not just for entertainment purposes.
Describe the strongest evidence available to demonstrate your success at advancing student learning. Using data, (formal/informal and short/long term) how are your students performing when they enter your classroom versus when they leave?
Even this year, I have found students already having “ah-ha” moments when it comes to making code work. When teaching programming skills, it is not my job to point out the mistakes in code, but rather, help students improve their own troubleshooting skills so they can self-assess their work. One day last week, a student was having a particular difficult time at one part of his programming. I sat with him and offered troubleshooting questions. We did not figure it out by the end of class, but I modeled the types of things he needed to do. He went home and within minutes was texting with the message, “Finally figured out why my app wouldn’t pick up on the Font Quote Input. lol. It feels so good haha :).” My response: “Good golly, I love reading that!” He continued texting his findings and it was all a matter of troubleshooting.
On a broader scale, I have had continued success in helping students pass the AP Computer Science Principles class year after year. The first year I taught it, the students did not even realize they were in an AP class. There was some panic at first, but we worked through all bumps in the road and for a bunch of students who had never taken an AP course, half of them passed the exam. The second year, my next set of AP students who wanted to be in the class made the decision to beat the previous year pass rate by 20 percentage points. They did and went over with 18 additional percentage points. The proudest that I have been was last year. Last year’s group, despite COVID lock downs, improved over the previous year by five more percentage points. It was not a miracle, but rather, the willingness to work as a community and help each other understand concepts and make forward progress.
I also teach a web design course where I have found student interests are spotlighted and their thirst for wanting to know “how do they do that…?” offers them opportunities to investigate, try and test the waters of their own creativity, and then post them on a site they have created from scratch. As a teacher, you get to learn so much more about your students when they can add their own interests, skills and “flavor” to an otherwise generic lesson.
What Inspires you as an educator?
Inspiration, for me, comes from two avenues.
Students who demonstrate “Lightbulb moments” in facial expressions and body celebrations are always something that inspires me to keep going. My heart has always been for those students who struggle to learn, but maybe in my class, have found another non-traditional way to learn content and as a result are able to incorporate that technique in other classes.
In some cases, my inspiring moments are evident the next year or many years later. This is when the stories surface from students, teachers and parents. There have been several times where I have seen a student from previous years enthusiastically tell me how they were able to show their own brilliance when they went on a family trip. The student was able to point out elements of science learned in my class. Another momma-pride moment is the student who was able to get an awesome paying summer job because he knew more than the average student did when it came to the business world applications and using software that was part of my teaching.
Is it so important to me for students to find relevant, real-world application in anything I teach. These inspirational moments are the blessing that comes from that hard and heart work.
If selected as the Duval County Teacher of the Year, you would serve as a spokesperson and representative for the teaching profession. What would be your primary message?
If selected as Duval County Teacher of the Year, my message would be to be practical, create community, and be flexible.
Be practical and be yourself. There is only one like you because everybody else is taken. You came into teaching to help, care and yes, love on people. You have powers you have yet to uncover. You are necessary to someone even if it is just one someone. Make the most of the time you have in front of people, but also remember to take time for yourself. Those budding powers cannot grow if you are spreading yourself too thin. Take time for self-care.
Be in community, it is so difficult to forge ahead alone. Ask for help when you need it. Seek people who are doing things you want to learn. In return, be the kind of person who is willing to return the favor by bringing up or assisting other faculty, staff, supporting adults, or others when needed. Make opportunities to celebrate one another. Be daring enough to demonstrate acts of kindness. Be in community with parents, they can be your strongest allies when you inform and involve them during the positive times. It will also make a difference during those difficult times, because there is a relationship on which to build.
Be flexible to change. This has been a monumental year to be flexible, and I applaud ALL teachers, paraprofessionals, staff, and volunteers who continue to rise to the challenge. Change is not easy nor quick to acclimate, but I have noticed that teachers continue to offer students so much more because they are willing to try, fail forward, and try again in a cycle that demonstrates to students the need for endurance, fortitude, and willingness to venture out of our comfort zones. I am extremely grateful to be the in the company of so many Rockstar teachers, and although my school selected me as Teacher of the year, this has been, without a doubt, the year of the TEACHER.
With the onset of Coronavirus that sent us all home for instruction and learning in a non-traditional, my school of over 2300 students had to devise a plan as to how we could make this work. A few were familiar with using TEAMS and various applications, but there was no hub of information for teachers or students on how to use the technology provided by DCPS. I worked as a consultant, trainer, and/or facilitator and go-to answer person for all things related to TEAMS. I answered questions from not only administration, faculty, and staff, but also students and parents. Training the adults to become comfortable using the technology was my goal. If the students felt assured of their teachers’ confidence and proficiency with the technology, there would be less stress for our students, and more learning. Once we all found some rhythm in the process, it opened opportunities for everyone to support each other, whether it was students helping students, teachers helping students and even students helping teacher to understand the functionality of the technology platforms, we were all learning how to travers this no-so-optimal situation together. This year has by far been the year we ALL learned how to better use technology – and not just for entertainment purposes.
Describe the strongest evidence available to demonstrate your success at advancing student learning. Using data, (formal/informal and short/long term) how are your students performing when they enter your classroom versus when they leave?
Even this year, I have found students already having “ah-ha” moments when it comes to making code work. When teaching programming skills, it is not my job to point out the mistakes in code, but rather, help students improve their own troubleshooting skills so they can self-assess their work. One day last week, a student was having a particular difficult time at one part of his programming. I sat with him and offered troubleshooting questions. We did not figure it out by the end of class, but I modeled the types of things he needed to do. He went home and within minutes was texting with the message, “Finally figured out why my app wouldn’t pick up on the Font Quote Input. lol. It feels so good haha :).” My response: “Good golly, I love reading that!” He continued texting his findings and it was all a matter of troubleshooting.
On a broader scale, I have had continued success in helping students pass the AP Computer Science Principles class year after year. The first year I taught it, the students did not even realize they were in an AP class. There was some panic at first, but we worked through all bumps in the road and for a bunch of students who had never taken an AP course, half of them passed the exam. The second year, my next set of AP students who wanted to be in the class made the decision to beat the previous year pass rate by 20 percentage points. They did and went over with 18 additional percentage points. The proudest that I have been was last year. Last year’s group, despite COVID lock downs, improved over the previous year by five more percentage points. It was not a miracle, but rather, the willingness to work as a community and help each other understand concepts and make forward progress.
I also teach a web design course where I have found student interests are spotlighted and their thirst for wanting to know “how do they do that…?” offers them opportunities to investigate, try and test the waters of their own creativity, and then post them on a site they have created from scratch. As a teacher, you get to learn so much more about your students when they can add their own interests, skills and “flavor” to an otherwise generic lesson.
What Inspires you as an educator?
Inspiration, for me, comes from two avenues.
Students who demonstrate “Lightbulb moments” in facial expressions and body celebrations are always something that inspires me to keep going. My heart has always been for those students who struggle to learn, but maybe in my class, have found another non-traditional way to learn content and as a result are able to incorporate that technique in other classes.
In some cases, my inspiring moments are evident the next year or many years later. This is when the stories surface from students, teachers and parents. There have been several times where I have seen a student from previous years enthusiastically tell me how they were able to show their own brilliance when they went on a family trip. The student was able to point out elements of science learned in my class. Another momma-pride moment is the student who was able to get an awesome paying summer job because he knew more than the average student did when it came to the business world applications and using software that was part of my teaching.
Is it so important to me for students to find relevant, real-world application in anything I teach. These inspirational moments are the blessing that comes from that hard and heart work.
If selected as the Duval County Teacher of the Year, you would serve as a spokesperson and representative for the teaching profession. What would be your primary message?
If selected as Duval County Teacher of the Year, my message would be to be practical, create community, and be flexible.
Be practical and be yourself. There is only one like you because everybody else is taken. You came into teaching to help, care and yes, love on people. You have powers you have yet to uncover. You are necessary to someone even if it is just one someone. Make the most of the time you have in front of people, but also remember to take time for yourself. Those budding powers cannot grow if you are spreading yourself too thin. Take time for self-care.
Be in community, it is so difficult to forge ahead alone. Ask for help when you need it. Seek people who are doing things you want to learn. In return, be the kind of person who is willing to return the favor by bringing up or assisting other faculty, staff, supporting adults, or others when needed. Make opportunities to celebrate one another. Be daring enough to demonstrate acts of kindness. Be in community with parents, they can be your strongest allies when you inform and involve them during the positive times. It will also make a difference during those difficult times, because there is a relationship on which to build.
Be flexible to change. This has been a monumental year to be flexible, and I applaud ALL teachers, paraprofessionals, staff, and volunteers who continue to rise to the challenge. Change is not easy nor quick to acclimate, but I have noticed that teachers continue to offer students so much more because they are willing to try, fail forward, and try again in a cycle that demonstrates to students the need for endurance, fortitude, and willingness to venture out of our comfort zones. I am extremely grateful to be the in the company of so many Rockstar teachers, and although my school selected me as Teacher of the year, this has been, without a doubt, the year of the TEACHER.