Be a Top Dog – Kentucky Teacher

In an effort to higher seize and have fun the wealth of information and experience of academics throughout the state, I got down to interview and observe educators from each nook of Kentucky. The course of was easy: discover academics who create lecture rooms the place youngsters wish to be, get to know them and bear witness to what makes them particular, after which have fun that have. It is my idea that each single faculty in Kentucky has academics that I can be taught from and are price celebrating. None of those academics are good, however via their imperfections, all of them have one thing particular they contribute to their college students and their neighborhood. I hope by sharing my expertise with these academics, our communities can have a window into our lecture rooms and different academics can begin to embrace their very own Imperfect Classrooms.

The job of a trainer is a posh one. It requires an in-depth understanding of the science of studying (how we finest be taught at different levels of our lives), information of material that’s specific to the course being taught, and the power to assemble classes, experiences, and assessments that ship info to college students and show that it was discovered. And that is just the start! In reality, if you happen to ask most academics, the vast majority of their focus, time, and vitality is spent solely outdoors of those three main aspects of training. Things like speaking with dad and mom, making certain an equitable studying expertise for each pupil, ensuring college students’ social and emotional wants are being met, serving to to show college students how one can embrace obstacles and overcome them, facilitating and instructing conflict decision … the checklist may go on. Being a trainer usually requires herculean effort.

While the overwhelming majority of academics are capable of stability the numerous duties they face day in and day trip, sometimes, you come throughout a trainer who makes it look effortless. One such person is 2nd grade trainer Markayla Stevens at Pikeville Elementary (Pikeville Independent). Markayla is a graduate of the University of Pikeville and has been instructing at Pikeville Elementary for 9 years. Not solely does she make instructing look effortless, however she does so with enthusiasm, positivity, and pleasure that’s unparalleled.

In Markayla’s classroom, everybody issues for who they’re and the place they arrive from. This begins properly earlier than the varsity yr as she reaches out to households in the summertime in order that even earlier than a pupil walks into her classroom, they’re a part of it. Her connection to her college students and their households extends all through the varsity yr, out and in of the classroom. A mother or father of certainly one of her former college students stated that what makes Markayla so particular as a trainer is that she celebrates every pupil in their very own approach. “The special thing that she creates and provides for each student doesn’t have to be the same; each student is celebrated and no celebration is better than another.” No matter how huge or small, Markayla finds – or creates – pleasure, pleasure, and alternatives for her college students.

Leadership is a key part of Pikeville Elementary and as soon as once more, Markayla takes that up a notch. As a Leader in Me faculty, each pupil at Pikeville Elementary is taught how one can have a mindset of management and how one can turn out to be a pacesetter in their very own approach. In Markayla’s classroom, each single pupil shows the entire traits of a pacesetter. It was an incredible factor to witness: each exercise, each transition, and each lesson was a collaboration between Markayla and her college students.

One of the extra extravagant and distinctive parts of Markayla’s classroom was what she calls the “Top Dog” announcement. Each week, a pupil is chosen at random and they’re quietly and confidentially watched all through the week. On Friday, if that pupil has accomplished all assignments, has the studying log signed, homework accomplished, and made good selections then they’re introduced the Top Dog to the category. And this isn’t a job that’s taken evenly. A pupil who’s quiet, shy, or struggling to really feel confident of their studying may be given a lift that modifications their complete faculty expertise. Markayla instructed me of 1 pupil who struggled for weeks to find their place within the classroom, however inside hours of being named Top Dog had, for the first time, raised their hand to reply math issues at school and after faculty took particular time to e-mail her footage of their canine to share with the category. One alternative to be seen and this pupil’s complete expertise modified.

That is what Markayla’s classroom is all about. Making real connections together with her college students and their households, offering alternatives for her college students to be leaders out and in of the classroom, and making a classroom setting that fully modifications a pupil’s outlook on faculty and the chances they’ve inside it. One take a look at the magic she has created at Pikeville Elementary and it’s clear that Markayla is the true Top Dog.

This collection is designed to offer a glimpse into lecture rooms throughout Kentucky, however furthermore, to have fun our public faculty academics’ contributions to their college students and their communities. If you recognize of a trainer who creates an incredible classroom setting and brings pleasure, optimism, and excellence to training in Kentucky, e-mail Kevin Dailey.

Kevin Dailey is a trainer at Ballyshannon Middle School in Boone County, Kentucky and is presently serving because the 2024 Kentucky Teacher of the Year. All opinions on this story are his and never essentially reflective of the Kentucky Department of Education.