Haywood Middle School Principal Yvette Blue is proud to announce that two Warrior teachers will take their teaching on the road October 15-17 to Columbus, Ohio. Mrs. Rachel Dreyer and Mrs. Tanesha Walker have been selected to present at the Annual Conference for Middle Level Education. The Association for Middle Level Educators (AMLE) sponsors this national conference. Each year, this middle school organization calls for proposals from middle school educators from across the country; the proposal submitted by this duo was accepted. Mrs. Dreyer and Mrs. Walker will present to educators the teaching strategy – Accountable Talk. Principal Blue said, “This is a celebratory moment for Haywood Middle School and Haywood County Schools. Two of our best educators will represent us on a national platform. Prior to this week’s presentation, the two HMS Teacher Leaders have made presentations at Union University and at Haywood Middle School.”

AMLE Session Topic: Teaching Students to use Accountable Talk

Accountable Talk is a teaching strategy that stimulates higher-order thinking by helping students comprehend, provide feedback, and communicate their knowledge and understanding of what they’re learning in the classroom. To promote Accountable Talk, teachers create a safe learning environment where every student feels confident to participate, share ideas and opinions, and respectfully agree or disagree with their peers to encourage deeper learning.

Rachel Dreyer is the wife of Burton Dreyer and mother to Maddison and Timothy. Mrs. Dreyer and her family are residents of Madison County and are members of Love & Truth Church. Mrs. Dreyer earned her B.S. Ed in Teaching All Learners from the University of Memphis. She has five years of teaching experience, and she is currently a seventh-grade math teacher and Teacher Leader at Haywood Middle School. Mrs. Dreyer also serves on the HMS Leadership Team.

Tanesha Walker is a long-time resident of Brownsville, Tennessee. She has served as a classroom teacher for the past nine years, which includes seven years in Haywood County. She is currently a sixth-grade math instructor at Haywood Middle School, where she is one of the Teacher Leaders on the school’s Leadership Team. Mrs. Walker is a 1997 graduate of Haywood High School. She received a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from the University of Memphis in 2006. She also earned a Masters of Educational Leadership at Trevecca Nazarene University in 2011. She and her husband, Terrelle, have her three daughters, Trenesha, Faith, and Lyric.