The closest thing we have to a pause button for life is a camera.  Cameras are everywhere now, and while we can debate whether that’s good or bad, one of the clear advantages of that easy access is that we’re able to capture more of these moments that we hope to always remember.  Unfortunately, the photos of the memories we capture often don’t do justice to the event itself.  Amateur photography doesn’t quite frame a moment in the most accurate way or truly reflect what we were feeling during that time.  Thankfully, there are people who know just how to do that.

Haywood High School Sophomore, Trenton Evans, is one of those people.  Trenton is a burgeoning photographer who has been honing his craft for the last few years.  He captures the moments that students experience at Haywood High School on the dance floor, athletic fields, and any other place where student activity is happening.  He is able to frame those moments in a way that communicates the emotion of what is taking place.  He can not only freeze that moment from a visual perspective, but transfer the emotion and beauty of it, as well.

Trenton got his start in photography a couple of years ago with support and encouragement from his family.

“I got into photography two and half years ago.  My brother really encouraged me to start taking pictures,” Trenton explained.  “My parents surprised me with a camera on Christmas Day, and I was so excited and proud.  That really changed everything for me.”

Once Trenton got his camera, he started developing a personal style when it came to the pictures he would take.  Like anything that’s new, there was a learning curve and when he looks back at those early pictures he made, he can tell quite a difference compared to the pictures he makes today.

“There’s a big difference in the photos I’m making now and the ones I was making when I first started,” he said.  “I’ve really learned a lot about different types of photography and what styles work well in certain situations.”

At Haywood High School, Trenton will photograph sporting events, social events, and capture other moments that occur at the school.  Most of those pictures would be considered action shots that frame a person in the middle of a physical movement.  And, while Trenton enjoys taking those types of photos, his preference is more of a portrait style of photography,

“Portrait styles really show emotions.  When I take the pictures, I can immediately tell if it has emotion or not; I want it to give something back to the person who views it,” he said.  

As Trenton evolves as a photographer, his style is evolving as well.  He is discovering the connection between his eye and the camera and how that relationship is growing and allowing him to focus on different aspects of shooting.

“When I hold the camera up to my eye, I can normally tell what’s going to be a great shot or an amazing image.  But even with those really good ones, there’s room for improvement,” he explained.

Once the shots are taken, the next step of the process begins: editing.  In any mode of the creative world, editing is the least glamorized but most important aspect of the creative process.  Editing is where the fine details of an image or a piece of art or writing emerge and calcify to make the finished product whole.

“I spend a lot of time editing; it takes a long time.  I want my images to be perfect in my eyes and really match my style,” he said.  “When I’m editing, sometimes I have to pull back from the computer and kind of reframe what I want the image to look like.  Plus, my eyes need to rest in order to see the true colors of a photo.”

As far as his evolving style is concerned, Trenton definitely has one that he’s perfecting – bright and bold.

“My style is bright and bold.  The picture is natural, but still is able to tell a story,” he explained.  “It lends itself to shooting in natural light, and I love shooting in natural light, so that involves a lot of outdoor work which I like.”

As Trenton continues to see growth in his work and his business, he’s thinking about next steps.  He knows that he wants to continue to improve and grow his photography brand, but he’s realizing that he’s seeing a lot of options on the horizon.

“One of my plans after I graduate is to find a college that focuses on photography, but also builds my skills in other areas,” he said.

Any creative artist has inspiration from artists who came before them.  Trenton is no different.  His biggest influence is an African-American photographer based in Atlanta.  

“A photographer that definitely inspires me is Mark Clennon.  He’s a black photographer who lives in Atlanta and is very inspirational,” Trenton said.

Looking at Clennon’s photography, it’s easy to see why he is a big influence to Trenton.  Most of Clennon’s photos are striking portraits that convey emotion against a backdrop of strong colors that allow the subject of the photo to stand out even more.  

For Trenton, the love of photography was immediate and only continues to grow.  

“As soon as I got into photography, I loved it.  I knew it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he said.

Haywood High School and Haywood County Schools are both lucky that Trenton found this passion a few years ago.  His work benefits the district and the school, and his creativity is something to behold.  

The post Through the Lens – Trenton Evans appeared first on Haywood County Schools.

Public education is in the middle of a seismic shift. The importance of creating Career/Technical pathways for students is at an unprecedented high. As industry continues to grow and shift toward more programming oriented work, the pace for education to keep up with these changes is rapid. 

Even during this period of evolution in education, one constant still remains: reading is fundamental to any and all types of academic success. 

There are countless studies that emphasize the importance of a student being able to read on grade level by the time that student is in third grade. Students not on grade level in reading by third grade have a much lower success rate for future academic success. Knowing this data and seeing that many students were behind in reading as they progressed through each grade, Haywood County Schools, in partnership with Instruction Partners, instituted The Reader/Writer Project last school year. 

Director of Elementary Education, Sarah Aitken, led the implementation process of The Reader/Writer Project.

“We started the Reader/Writer project in 2021. In 2019, we realized what we were using in intervention for our young readers wasn’t really supporting them in building strong literacy skills. We started a conversation with Instruction Partners to see how we could change it,” Sarah said.

In partnership with Instruction Partners, teachers at Anderson Early Childhood Center and Haywood Elementary School began the work of implementing the Reader/Writer Project in their respective schools. At its core the Reader/Writer Project is a 45-minute instructional block dedicated solely to targeted, small-group foundational skills instruction. The instructional time is also individualized to meet each learner’s specific needs. 

Students are given a benchmark assessment at the beginning of the year to measure where they are on their personal reading path. From there, students are placed in microphases based on the results of their benchmark assessment. Then, the magic starts to happen.

Cindy Currie is a kindergarten teacher who has seen how the Reader/Writer Project (RWP) has helped her students grow leaps and bounds.

“We start each year by giving a benchmark test and based on those tests, students are placed in microphases. These microphases are learning targets that are specifically for that child depending on their need,” she said. “I make my lesson plans based on where each child is in their microphase. So, during Reader/Writer project time each child is receiving lessons and intervention based on their personal microphase and learning goal.”

The work and preparation for the 45 minute block of the RWP is intense and detailed, but the results are undeniable. Students are given intensive, individualized lessons based on their microphase that allows them to build skills based on where they are as a young reader. Because of this, students are able to learn and build knowledge at a pace that works for them rather than trying to learn at a universal baseline. Cindy has seen firsthand how effective the individualized instruction of the RWP has been for her students.

“I see kids right now who are advancing so fast that I’m constantly changing microphases. I have kids who came into the year on the lowest micorphase – they didn’t know their beginning sounds – and right now these kids know all their sounds and phonemic awareness and now they’re reading,” she explained.

While any Kindergarten teacher would appreciate seeing so much growth, Cindy internalizes the growth on a personal level because she’s seen what it’s like if students aren’t reading on grade level as they age.

Before Cindy was teaching young readers, she taught middle school students. She saw many students who weren’t reading on grade level and was heartbroken trying to figure out the best ways to help them. Reading interventions for older students often fall short because there is so much remediation that has to be done because students were so far behind.

“This is my third year teaching kindergarten, but I was a middle school teacher before that. I was doing intervention for eighth grade students, but saw how much they were missing when it came to reading. That has really helped me to see the importance of what we’re doing now with students at an early age,” Cindy said. “When you have eighth grade boys walking down a sixth grade hall to meet with me because they’re way below where they should be when it comes to reading, it really opens your eyes. This work with the Reader/Writer project is my redemption for those kids we failed. We didn’t fail them on purpose, but now we know how to do better now.”

When work as substantial as this is being done, it’s extremely important to share it. Instruction Partners reached out to Sarah to discuss presenting the success story of early literacy in Haywood County Schools, and she didn’t hesitate when it came to which teacher she wanted to ask to present.

“When we learned about the “Learning Forward” conference, Instruction Partners asked me to find a couple of teachers who could present because we knew the work we were doing was worth sharing,” she said. “We were doing walkthroughs and we went to Ms. Cindy’s class and were blown away when we saw how well everything was working. She had internalized this whole process; her data looked amazing; her students were making incredible gains. So, it was an easy decision for her to be the one to present.”

The Learning Forward Conference was held in December at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Teachers from all over the United States and Canada attended in order to learn strategies from districts who were finding sustained success in the implementation of programs that were student-focused and showing academic progression.

“We had people from Canada, from the West Coast, from New Mexico, from New York all at the conference, and we’re very proud of the work being done in Haywood County. We wanted to share our story with them because we have some of the best in the state,” Sarah said.

When Cindy presented to the crowd, she couldn’t help but recall her time as a middle school teacher and the frustration she would see on her students’ faces when they would struggle to comprehend text. She relayed that story to the crowd as she spoke and noticed that it resonated with them, too. 

“I shared what it looks like in my classroom on a daily basis and the sense of urgency we have about teaching kids to read. It’s sad when you see kids who are older, and they’re not reading on grade level,” Cindy said. “It was amazing to see the response we had. There were a lot of people that needed to hear this.”

As every district is continuing to find their footing after two abbreviated years of learning due to the pandemic, early literacy in HCS is growing leaps and bounds due to the implementation of the Reader/Writer Project, but also because of the talent of the teachers in the district.

“By the time COVID ended, we had a good plan in place for the next course of action which was the Reader/Writer project,” Sarah said. “We talked about the best practices – phonemic awareness and phonics – that would best prepare our students to be reading on grade level by the third grade. Everything we’ve done has been anchored in the science of reading, and we’ve really seen our young students flourish.”

Sarah knows what all educators know – that having the right people in place to implement the programs is more important than simply having the programs. She also knew who to point the audience to when the presentation was over.

“I had people ask me some questions, but Ms. Cindy was the expert there. She’s the one doing the work every day, and people at the conference wanted to learn as much as they could from her.”

The post HCS Educator Presents at National Conference appeared first on Haywood County Schools.

For Haywood Elementary School First Grade teacher, Wychickia Watkins, Haywood County is home and always has been. She attended school from Kindergarten to her senior year in Haywood County Schools, and now she’s teaching in the same district where she grew up. Not only is she teaching, but she’s doing it at a high-level. Wychickia was named Teacher of the Year at Haywood Elementary School this year. 

“I’m so honored and ecstatic to be named teacher of the year at my school. I’m so proud that my co-workers voted for me to represent Haywood Elementary School as teacher of the year,” she said.

Even though Wychickia grew up in Haywood County Schools, she didn’t attend Haywood Elementary School. Her elementary years were spent at East Side.

“When I was young, the schools were split – county and city – so I didn’t go to Haywood Elementary, but I did grow up here in Haywood County,” she said. “I’m proud to come back and teach in the school system where I attended. It’s a little different than when I attended school, but the same values are there and the same representation.”

From an early age, Wychickia knew she wanted to be a teacher. Her pathway to becoming a classroom teacher didn’t follow the traditional route, however. Her first years in a classroom were spent as an Educational Assistant. Her peers saw her passion and talent for working with students and encouraged her to pursue her teaching license. 

“I always did well in school and had some great teachers in HCS that inspired me to go back and be a teacher,” she recalled. 

While her pathway to teaching wasn’t direct, Wychickia was always certain about what grade level she wanted to teach once she found her way to the classroom.

“I never thought about teaching middle or high school. I’ve always wanted the younger kids; they’re more energetic. I do well with younger kids. This age, kids are still sweet and engaged and ready to learn,” she said.

When Wychickia was in school (and even now as an adult), she loved to read. She’s taken that passion for reading and parlayed it into an engaging and exciting classroom environment where young learners can see her love for reading and make it their own.

“I tell my kids that reading can take them anywhere. I may be grounded in this room, but when I open a book, I can go anywhere. I can’t stress that enough,” she explained. “It is very important that students at this age learn the basic skills of reading – phonics, phonemic awareness. We need to develop a love of reading in students this age, so I try to share my passion for reading every day in class.”

When Wychickia was an elementary school student in HCS, she was with the same teacher all day for every subject. As a teacher now, however, Wychickia gets to teach Reading while her partner teacher teaches Math. This arrangement allows Wychickia to teach two groups of students during the day while focusing on her passion of teaching Reading.

“We do partner teaching here where my partner teacher will teach Math and I’ll teach Reading. We’ve done that for four years and it’s refreshing to teach two groups of students each day rather than just staying with the same group all day long,” she said. “As a team, we’re trying to do all we can to get our students reading on grade level by the time they leave the first grade.”

Regardless of the subject matter that Wychickia teaches, she knows that there are core values every great teacher should have. She understands that students are far more than test scores and have individual personalities, lives, and stories. 

“If you’re going to be a good teacher, you have to have passion for your students. You have to love your students. You have to remember that everyone doesn’t come from the same background,” she said. “I think I’m great at building relationships with my students; I get to know them individually. I also show them that I’m human. I tell them that I make mistakes, and once a teacher can do that, students realize that they care about them and that they’re human.”

In the end, Wychickia is beyond grateful that she gets to do what she loves in the place where she grew up. 

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I’m living my dream right now – teaching students every day.”

The post Wychickia Watkins – HES Teacher of the Year appeared first on Haywood County Schools.

Any successful organization has a core set of goals and values that guide the decision making process. For Haywood County Schools and Haywood High School, a top priority is ensuring that students have access to various post-secondary opportunities while still in high school. Whether that’s AP access for all, multiple dual-credit and dual-enrollment options, numerous Career/Technical pathways, or the JROTC program, students at HHS have a plethora of opportunities to choose from when it comes to pursuing post-secondary success.

It’s one thing to see those options displayed on a PowerPoint or a brochure, but when a student is able to take advantage of those opportunities and personify how those opportunities can give that students a head start in their post-secondary life, well, that’s the best kind of story to tell.

Asia Silas is nearing the finish line of her high school career. While many people can reasonably see high school graduation as the conclusion of a chapter, it’s actually the opening of a door that can lead to endless possibilities. That’s how Asia views it at least.

“This year went by so fast; I only have a little bit of time left until I graduate,” she said. “I’m excited and nervous, but I’m not sad because there’s more to come afterwards.”

In Asia’s case, there’s A LOT more to come after graduation.

As Asia looks beyond her May graduation date, she sees a future that was beginning to be built four years ago during her freshman year at HHS.

“I’ve been in Air Force Junior ROTC since I was a freshman,” she recalled. “Starting out, I honestly took ROTC as a way of not having to take as many classes. My brother – who was also in ROTC – encouraged me to take it, too. I ended up falling in love with the program because of the mentors I’ve had in it.”

The JROTC program is a military-themed character development program offered to help high school students develop their capacity for citizenship, leadership, character building and service to the community. Through this program, Asia also gained unique insight into the workings of the military and was also able to earn Early PostSecondary Credits (EPSO’s) that helped her land a higher pay grade when she enlisted in the military.

“Because I was in JROTC for four years, I earned EPSO credits – the longer you’re in the program, the higher ranking you’ll have when you start in the military. A higher ranking also means higher pay,” she said. “I just enlisted in the military recently and entered as a Private First Class at an E-3 pay grade.”

More importantly, enlisting in the National Guard will allow Asia to attend the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for free once she completes her training.  Not only will Asia complete the basic training aspect of the National Guard, but she will also earn her EMT certification during the process which will lead to her program of study at UTC.

“I’ll graduate in May, and eleven days after that I’ll start my National Guard training in Oklahoma.  I’ll be there for three months and then move to Fort Sam Houston in Texas and complete my job training there. I’ll be finished December 7, 2023 with basic training and have my certifications. More importantly, I’ll have my college paid for by the military,” she said. “In January of 2024, I plan to enroll in the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and major in Nursing and eventually become an Anesthesiologist.”

Along with being enrolled in the JROTC program since her freshman year, Asia has also taken advantage of the Health Science pathway at HHS. Through this pathway, she has been able to earn her Certified Nursing Assistant certification and will be taking Phlebotomy her last semester of high school. Being able to earn EPSO’s in Health Science classes directly connects to her future goals beyond college.

“I’ve been taking Health Science courses at HHS since my freshman year. My classes got switched up a little bit, but right now I’m taking my CNA course and have the certification test this week. Next semester, I’ll take Phlebotomy and hopefully earn my Phlebotomist certification ,too,” she explained.

As if Asia’s future plans and high school career weren’t enough to celebrate, she recently was chosen as an alternate to participate in the Flight Academy. 

The Flight Academy is a Chief of Staff of the Air Force scholarship and was created to address the national pilot shortage and allows students selected to the program to earn their private pilot’s license for free.  

The purpose of the Flight Academy is to provide an opportunity for selected cadets to earn their Private Pilot Certification (PPC) while simultaneously increasing an interest in aviation. In addition to earning their PPC, cadets will also earn college credit. 

Because Asia found so much success in high school and the JROTC program, her JROTC instructor, Major Delores Dailey, recommended Asia for the program.

“I had to fill out an application and have my fitness score in a certain range. The process was tedious, but being accepted is a tremendous honor,” Asia said. “Major Dailey really wanted me to apply for it, so I checked it out. She sent a recommendation letter on my behalf.”

The acceptance into the Flight Academy is the icing on the cake of a high school career that has been filled with Asia taking every advantage of the opportunities presented to her at Haywood High School. Along with being on the sidelines as a cheerleader for Tomcat football and basketball, she can also be found running on the Track and Field team. Pairing her athletic accomplishments with her experience in JROTC and dual-credit Health Science pathway along with being a Ready Graduate, Asia is truly the personification of what Opportunity Haywood looks like at Haywood High School.

The post Asia Silas – Senior Takes Advantage of Post-Secondary Options appeared first on Haywood County Schools.

Press Release – Flight Academy

The post Press Release – HHS Senior Selected to Flight Academy appeared first on Haywood County Schools.

Full-circle moments in someone’s life don’t happen often, but when they do the moment is both unmistakable and unforgettable.

When Anderson Early Childhood Teacher Jamaica Kirby unlocked her door on the first day of her teaching career, she noticed something very familiar.

“I remember when I got my keys and opened my classroom door for the first time, I saw the carpet with the primary colors on it and I thought ‘I sat on that carpet when I was a student.’ There was something very special about coming back to teach at the school where I was a student,” Jamaica recalled.

Five years later, Jamaica is still teaching at AECC and, not only is she teaching, she’s teaching at a high level. This year, Jamaica was voted by her peers at Teacher of the Year at AECC. It’s an accomplishment that surprised her, but also moved her to tears.

“When they announced that I won Teacher of The Year, I burst into tears. I was just happy to make it to the top three,” she said. “I know what I do in my classroom and how much energy I give, but it means a lot to know that other people notice what I do.”

If you were to step into Jamaica’s class for even a short period of time, the energy she exudes while teaching would be impossible to ignore. Her voice is commanding, but always positive. Her movements are succinct, but never startling. She can address an undesired behavior exhibited by a student without breaking the stride of her instruction. Above all else, she can maintain student engagement with a group of students who are all under the age of five.  In other words, her creativity shines through.

“Here at AECC, you’re embraced for your creativity. I’ve turned my class into a pizza parlor; I’ve come to school dressed like a bunny. I love the creative part of teaching and just putting a smile on my kids’ faces,” she explained. “Having Coach Chris as a principal that is great about embracing teachers’ personalities goes such a long way in making my job enjoyable.”

Along with Jamaica’s creativity, her understanding of the high-quality curriculum is an important factor in her students’ success. As a teacher, however, she knows that bringing extra supplements into the curriculum in order to bring the lesson to life is where learning can really take place.

“We have a wonderful curriculum, and I have to teach what I have to teach, but the extra stuff I get to add on is what makes it fun. Having the ability to be creative is something I love about teaching,” she said. “I wear a different hat for every letter of the alphabet…literally. Last week, we learned the letter “H” and I wore a hot dog hat. For the letter “G”, I had a gold hat; letter “F” was a flamingo. The weirdest hat I had was the letter “X” – I wore an X-Ray hat. But, I also have a jellyfish hat that’s pretty weird.”

All educators wear many different hats, but Jamaica literally wears a different hat each week. Her students are drawn to her energy and her fun-loving spirit while she teaches the class. The foundations of learning and literacy are being laid by Jamaica but she’s wearing a jellyfish hat rather than a construction hat. 

While her infectious energy and creativity in the classroom are important attributes, she realizes that the most fundamental principle of teaching can be boiled down to one thing: relationships.

“A successful teacher HAS to build relationships with their students first and foremost. Students have to know they are safe with you before they’ll ever listen to you. When those relationships are built, the behavior issues start to take care of themselves – everything becomes easier,” she said.

Of course, you also have to have fun when it comes to teaching and learning.

“It’s also extremely important to make learning experiences for your students engaging. It’s easy to come in and read your curriculum, do what’s said there, and keep going. But when you plan for it and realize the things you can add to it that make it engaging, that’s when the learning really takes off.”

For Jamaica, the relationships that are being built are ones that last years after her students leave her classroom. Some of those relationships also pre-date her students ever coming into her classroom.

“I love everything about teaching, but what I love the most about it are the relationships you build – not just the kids but the families. I still talk to the parents of my first class I ever had here. I still have parents from years ago donating things to my classroom. Through those relationships, you can build close bonds with the kids,” she said. “Some of the parents here I went to school with; Haywood County is very connected. You can feel very comfortable here because of all the connections.  This is an amazing district to build relationships.”

Not only is Jamaica teaching young learners the foundational principles of learning, she’s doing it in the same town where she grew up and in the same building where she attended school. 

“Pre-K is so important for learning. It builds the foundational skills for all future learning. It helps students become more independent at an early age. Parents can work with those skills at home, too,” she explained. “We also do so much more than just play. I think there’s a misconception about Pre-K that all we do is play, but so much learning is taking place, too. Everything in this room has a purpose in learning. We think everything through to make sure every manipulative, every activity has a learning component to it. We want all of them ahead when they start Kindergarten.”

And while Jamaica knows that laying the foundations of education would be an important job for anyone anywhere, she realizes how fortunate she is to be doing it in her hometown.

“It’s really neat to be able to make a difference in the same place that made such an impact on me.”

The post AECC Teacher of the Year – Jamaica Kirby appeared first on Haywood County Schools.

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Six years ago, an article was published in The Atlantic that compared teaching to performance art. In fact, the article was even more specific and drew parallel lines between the act of teaching and an on stage performance. The article opened with this paragraph:

Education, at its most engaging, is performance art. From the moment a teacher steps into the classroom, students look to him or her to set the tone and course of study for everyone, from the most enthusiastic to the most apathetic students. Even teachers who have moved away from the traditional lecture format, toward more learner autonomy-supportive approaches such as project-based and peer-to-peer learning, still need to engage students in the process, and serve as a vital conduit between learner and subject matter.

William Shakespeare once famously wrote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” For educators, though, the classroom is their stage and the students their audience. Every day – from August to May – teachers put on their costumes and try their hardest to engage their students.

For Haywood High School Personal Finance teacher Allyson Byrum, becoming a performer in front of a class wasn’t difficult at all. In fact, she had plenty of practice before she ever hopped on her classroom stage.

“Teaching literally fell in my lap. I graduated from Haywood High School in 1993 and went to UT Knoxville from there. I always loved theater and took some classes in college, but didn’t really think I could make a career out of it, so I went into social work,” she explained. “But during that time in my life, I wanted to do something different, something crazy. So, my best friend from college and I drove to Los Angeles with a U-Haul trailer on the back of our car.”

For ten months, Allyson lived in Los Angeles and found some roles as an extra on television shows and even did some stand-up comedy. But the culture of Southern California was vastly different from Tennessee, and she longed for a slower pace. She eventually made her way back east, but came home with important experiences under her belt.

“I got my Screen Actors Guild card. I was an extra in some TV shows. I did some stand up comedy, but I just didn’t like the culture of LA. It was too fast-paced. I had a college degree and was working at two-story Blockbuster Video. Something had to change,” she said. “I came back home and got back into social work. Tom Morris was the superintendent of Haywood County Schools at the time, and he called me because the drama teacher at the high school was retiring and the school needed a replacement.”

From the studios in LA to the theater classroom at Haywood High School, Allyson found herself back home again and in a profession that she never expected to find herself. Looking back now, though, she has no regrets.

“I think I was a little lost after I graduated college. I knew that I wanted to do something that kept me hands-on and involved and I knew I liked being around young adults. But when Tom Morris called, I didn’t hesitate. I’ve loved it ever since,” she said. “My first day of teaching I was terrified. I was used to being on a stage where you can’t see your audience. It’s way scarier when you can see them and they can see you.”

After those initial butterflies subsided, Allyson found herself in a job that surprisingly wasn’t completely different from acting.

“I think, as teachers, we wear so many hats. We have to be so many different versions of ourselves. When I’m in front of my students, that’s my performance. I’m delivering a message, but I get to choose how I deliver it. I am just a loud, goofy person. I jumped right into teaching and let my personality show. I was scared when I started, but when I get up there and teach I know my job is to be as excited about this lesson as I possibly can be,” she explained.

For her first 16 years in education, Allyson felt at home teaching high school theater. She would direct and produce plays and at the end of each one, she would feel such a strong sense of pride in her students that she would be moved to tears.

“Every play I directed, I would cry at the end because I saw how much work went into the production. It’s the same way when I see kids succeed in the classroom. I want to get to know them and see them succeed,” she reflected.

After teaching theater for the majority of her educational career, Allyson transitioned to the Audio/Visual class for a few years before finding herself teaching Personal Finance. While one can see the logical connection moving from theater to A/V, Personal Finance seems like the subject that doesn’t belong in this equation. Allyson, however, sees this class as one of the most important classes students will ever take at HHS.

“I remember the rude awakening I had as an adult, not knowing a lot about money management. It’s even more crucial now, so I want our students to know everything they can about it before they enter the real world,” she said.

Even though Personal Finance doesn’t sound like a class where a lot of performance art takes place from behind the podium, Allyson finds ways to put her mark on how she teaches. Above anything else, however, she wants her students to grasp the importance of the subject matter she teaches. Not only does she realize the necessity of teaching money management skills, she also knows how important learning communication skills will be when it comes to future success for her students.

“I’m a big supporter of group based activities. Students have to learn how to work with others; they have to have communications skills. Group work is perfect for teaching that,” she said. “For some students, face to face interaction can be challenging. Some students love it, though. That’s why grouping with intention is important. You want to have a nice balance in the groups. Kids generally take their roles in that group naturally.”

Not only does Allyson teach her students about finance and communication, but she also realizes how important it is to show students how much she cares for them. Allowing students to find that self-confidence and belief in themselves is also a cornerstone of her class.

“A big part of teaching is also building confidence in students and molding them into the adult they’re going to be. At this school, every teacher I work with works so hard at this. We want our kids to be confident in themselves. We have to be mindful to show them when they succeed. I’m not going to let my kids fail my class. If they don’t understand something, I’m going to work with them until they get it,” she said.

In the end, being named Teacher of the Year at Haywood High School isn’t about the subject matter for Allyson. She believes a great teacher is one who has to be engaged with students in the subject matter, but also take an interest in students’ lives outside of the classroom.

“A good teacher has to show up mentally for the kids. On the days you’re teaching, you have to be ready to take on whatever they’re going to bring to us. We don’t know what they’ve been through before they walk through our door. We’re trying to give every student the individual attention they need,” she said.

She knows that teaching isn’t a job that only lasts from 8-3; it’s a job that’s part of who you are. And, while there may be some aspects of performance in front of the class, a great teacher is someone who can be their authentic selves in front of their students and invest in their school community.

“A good teacher doesn’t just do the work from 8-3. Good teachers pitch in and help on committees, attend ball games, planning prom, whatever it is that adds to the culture of the school.”

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There’s a lot to be said for picking up and moving to a new state, new city, and new part of the country. For some people, monumental change can feel overwhelming, but for others a life-altering change can be invigorating. 

Four years ago, Student Options Academy teacher Tanya Harrah left Southern California – the place she’d lived her entire life – and moved with her daughter and parents to Haywood County. She bought her house by searching for it on the internet; she interviewed for her job with Haywood County Schools over the phone. She and her family rolled into Brownsville the day of the Homecoming Parade in 2018, and she knew she’d made the right choice.

Since that day, Tanya and her family have invested in the community and the school system in every way possible. You can see Tanya at every football game on Friday nights – home and away. In her pictures on social media, you’ll see more purple than you would at a Minnesota Vikings game. In fact, no one in Brownsville would be surprised if Tanya bled purple instead of red. That’s how much she’s invested in Haywood County and Haywood County Schools.

From the beginning of her career in HCS, Tanya has taught at the Student Options Academy. The SOA is a unique and necessary learning environment that helps meet students where they are and provides support for students to finish their high school degree as well as be prepared for whatever comes next in their lives.

Tanya loves her work at the SOA and the opportunity it provides her to work with students that some people have counted out.

“This building houses the Alternative Learning Center and the Student Options Academy. The ALC is for students who may have been suspended from school and need to be separated from their peers for an extended amount of time. During this time, they still receive state approved curriculum and are able to keep up with their work so that they’re not behind when they return to school,” she explained. “The SOA is a place where students can come if the traditional school setting isn’t working – things like work or having a child. These students still need to finish high school and learn in order to move forward, so we set them up with supports that make sure they reach their goals.”

What led Tanya into education was having to deal with a tragedy that greatly impacted her and her parents when Tanya was just starting college.  With the intent to become a Marine Biologist, Tanya began her college career by majoring  in BioChemistry.  That changed early into her college career. 

“When I was in college, my brother committed suicide. I saw how that affected my parents at home; I saw how it affected me. I changed my major after that from BioChemistry to Psychology. I wanted to do bereavement counseling, but that felt too close,” Tanya said. 

Because of her brother’s suicide and the effect it had on her family, Tanya wanted to pursue a career where she could help people. She wanted to help families and individuals work through difficult times in their lives in hopes of helping prevent a similar tragedy from happening to other families.

“I ended up working with children with autism as a therapist. When I would make a difference with one of those children, I could see a positive impact. If I couldn’t give my parents their child back, I could at least help other parents have positive experiences with their children,” she said.

Tanya eventually ended up working in a charter school with high school students. When she reflects on that time in Los Angeles and her time in that school, she can see the similarities in those students and the students she has now at the SOA.

“I worked in a high school in Los Angeles and those kids had my heart just like these students at SOA do. Some kids just need to be steered back a certain way and a program like this gives them a second chance to improve their life,” she recalled.

This year, Tanya was named the Teacher of the Year at the Student Options Academy. It’s an award that is well-deserved and made extra special by the fact that it is voted on by the faculty at each school. Even with the individual accolades, Tanya remains focused on what SOA can provide students rather than what she has done to win this award.

“One of the misconceptions about the SOA is that people think this is the place where ‘bad children’ come to school and that is not true at all. Our kids are amazing; they are not bad children. They are incredibly capable. I believe there are kids that people count out, but I’m here to be an advocate for them. We want to help them; we care about them. Because we have a smaller environment, we’re able to hone in on that one on one instruction,” she said.

There are many instances Tanya can think of where she has seen how beneficial the SOA has been for students to attain certain goals that they believed were unreachable. She’s seen students finish with their high school diploma after they considered dropping out. She’s seen students enroll in college who never thought they could. She’s seen students go straight into the workforce after graduating. Not only has she seen it, she’s played an important role in those things happening. One story, though, always comes to her mind when she thinks of the SOA and her role in it.

“I had a student in 2018-19. He started off in the ALC and I would work with him one on one. This student was very quiet, but he worked hard. I advocated for him to move up to the SOA rather than going back to high school.  He stayed with us until the pandemic and when that hit, I was on the phone with him making sure he stayed caught up.  He completed his academic work a year ahead of schedule. He wanted to go to Tennessee State, but his GPA wasn’t where it needed to be, so he came back and was willing to retake classes to get his GPA up. He would walk here everyday regardless of the weather.  He got his GPA up to 3.06 and a month after that TSU announced that any senior in Haywood would receive a full scholarship, and he’s there now. He’s very happy and successful.  I don’t know that all of this would’ve happened had he not been in the Student Options Academy,” she recalled. 

One story like that would be enough for Tanya to know she made the right choice by changing her career path while she was in college, but she sees stories like that every year. She realizes how lucky she is to be part of them. She also knows the work it takes for stories like these to have happy endings, and she will do everything she can to make sure her students are ready for the next steps in their lives.

“My students are going to know how to read; they’re going to know how to problem solve. They’re going to set goals for themselves and obtain those goals,” she said.

In the end, what makes Tanya a worthy winner of Teacher of the Year at SOA is how much invests in her students and in this district. It’s what she set out to do on day 1 and hasn’t wavered since. 

“I had a mindset when I moved here that I was going to invest my life wherever I ended up. When we lived in California, I missed out on a lot of my daughter’s life, but my whole goal of moving to Tennessee was to slow down. This community lends itself to investment – if I’m going to work here, my daughter will go to school here. I want to work to make this place somewhere that I can be proud to send my daughter. And, I am proud to send her here.”

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Each year, teachers at every campus in Haywood County Schools cast their vote for who they believe should be Teacher of the Year (TOY) in their respective building. It is an honor that is reflective of the work that has been done in and out of the classroom by teachers who are passionate about students in Haywood County.  What makes this recognition even more special, however, is that whoever wins TOY won because their peers recognized the talent and value the person brought to their school. 

Rachel Winberry considers herself lucky. Not because she’s living her childhood dream of being a teacher. Not because she gets to teach the coolest class at East Side (STEAM).  She acknowledges that those are perks of her job, but she counts herself lucky because as an elective teacher, Rachel gets to teach EVERY student at East Side.

“I feel that I’m called to be here – to be at East Side and in Haywood County. There’s a reason why I’m here.  I LOVE my students,” she said. “Being able to teach every single student in the entire school is such a blessing. I love seeing the mix of strengths and talents in all my students.  Seeing kids being able to attack a problem and solve it with me being a facilitator is such a privilege.”

Rachel is a veteran teacher, but only recently transitioned to her role as STEAM teacher at East Side.  

Like most things in the world of education, STEAM is an acronym – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. With growing job opportunities in Haywood County over the next decade, the foundational skills of STEAM are vital to a student population who will have a myriad of professional possibilities awaiting them upon graduation. 

In her class, Rachel recognizes the role that mistakes play in the process of creating something. Her class is arranged in a way that is conducive to student collaboration – something that enhances social skills and problem solving. There’s noise in her class; an excitement that is palpable when you walk in the room. 

“The students loved our airplane designs. They got to design an airplane from certain materials and then we flew them. We measured how far they flew, how fast they flew. We worked our Math in there with the distance and speed,” Rachel explained.

An important part of the design process in STEAM is making mistakes. Traditionally, making mistakes is something that could be frowned upon in class, but in truth it’s really the only way to learn anything new. 

Rachel recognizes the importance of helping her students understand that making mistakes is all part of the learning process.

“One of the biggest things I teach with the engineering and design process in STEAM is that making mistakes is part of the process. So many inventions came to be because of a mistake. On the flip side, trial and error is also part of the creative process. Students have to be free to make mistakes in order to learn,” she said.

Students in elementary school aren’t naturally prone to understanding that making mistakes is part of the process of learning. Students at this age want stickers and smiley faces at the tops of their pages. Creating a safe environment for making mistakes, however, can be more valuable than colorful stickers or a big 100 on a worksheet.

“Students need to feel safe in their learning environment and not just from a physical standpoint. Kids need to feel emotionally safe and be able to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes,” Rachel said. “When I was growing up, I was a bit of a perfectionist, so when I see students who really struggle with making mistakes, I try to remind them that it’s part of the process.  I know what it feels like because I was a student who didn’t want to make mistakes. A famous quote I always repeat is ‘We haven’t failed, we just found a way that didn’t work.’”

And, that is just a glimpse into what makes Rachel a wonderful educator.

Along with creating a space for creativity and growth in a subject where both are necessary, Rachel also leans into personal qualities that make her a successful teacher.

“I think patience is a very important trait for a teacher, but a teacher’s enthusiasm is probably the most important trait to me. If a teacher is excited about their subject, the kids will be excited, too,” she said. “I want my students to feel my excitement. When I was in college, one of my professors said something that I won’t forget. He said, ‘If you’re going to go into teaching, don’t apologize. Don’t apologize to the kids for what you’re about to teach them. Be excited for what you’re about to teach them.’”

Rachel’s class is full of excitement and not just because students are building airplanes or studying specimens under a microscope for the first time. Students are excited because Rachel’s enthusiasm is contagious.  Beyond that enthusiasm, though, is a bedrock foundation of all successful teachers: relationships with the students.

“Building relationships with students is everything. If a student knows you’re in their corner and are their biggest champion, the learning will come. This is especially true for students who may not have a mentoring figure in their life,” she said.

The intangible aspects of teaching are often the most important – building relationships, creating safe environments.  However, what separates the good teachers from the great teachers is when a teacher can combine the intangible skills with great instruction. 

“I have been told on several evaluations that I ask very thought provoking questions,” Rachel said. “I think questioning students is such an important part of learning. It helps to know if they understand the lesson or allows them to expound and dive deeper into something.”

As Rachel continues to guide students through the process of creating and designing (and the process of making mistakes), she hopes that she can be an influence on them much the same way her fourth grade teacher was an influence on her.

“I think teaching is a calling. My personal journey started when I was ten years old,” she reflected. ”My fourth grade teacher was so patient with me and dedicated to helping me learn and that really shaped my desire to teach at an early age.”

In the end, like all teachers, Rachel wants to have a lasting impact on her students.

“Hopefully, something I teach them or tell them, they’ll be able to carry with them long after they’ve left my classroom.”

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