B

Hamblen County Schools announced its District Level Teachers of the Year, Principal of the Year, and Supervisor of the Year Thursday.

“I am extremely proud of all of our teachers and faculty,’ Hamblen County Superintendent Arnie Bunch said. “I see these teachers as a reflection of how they are impacting the students.

“They are rock stars and they are making a big difference in these kids’ lives and if you see them thank them for the great work they are doing.”

Bunch praised the teachers for their dedication to the students of Hamblen County.

“Our teachers are dedicated and committed to educating our youth so they are better prepared for the future.

“We have some exceptional teachers in our district,” he said. “I applaud their hard work but also their commitment and love to the students.”

The Teacher of the Year winners PreK through fourth grade, Amanda Maynard from Witt Elementary, fifth through eighth grade, Kerry Stacy from Meadowview Middle School and grades ninth through twelfth grade, Kevin Parker from Morristown-Hamblen High School West.

Shelley Green principal of Lincoln Heights Elementary School was named Principal of the Year and Matt Drinnon Human Resource supervisor was named Supervisor of the Year.

Amanda Maynard is a third grade teacher at Witt, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Human Ecology from The University of Tennessee in 2004.

She received her Teacher Certification in 2008 and a Master of Education degree in 2014 from Lincoln Memorial University.

Throughout her teaching career, she has taught K-2nd Grades at Lincoln Heights Elementary School and has taught students skills that will help them long after leaving her class such as saving “Maynard Money.”

“It is essential that a child’s education extends outside the classroom, so I like to create lessons that move beyond direct instruction. I want students to have the opportunity to inquire, search, and create,” she said.

“When I run into former students outside of school, they always ask me if I still use “Maynard Money” in my classroom. This is something I have always used as a behavior management tool in my classroom, and it has been pretty impactful.”

Each day, students earn “Maynard Money” for doing their “job” as a student and each Friday, students get the opportunity to spend their money in the “Maynard School Store.”

The store includes items students can purchase from various price levels from $5 – $100 such as candy, toys, books and extra computer time and various school supplies. They may also purchase, for a higher price, preferential seating, homework passes and lunch in the classroom.

Students also have the option to save their money for high ticket purchases later on.

“They learn pretty quickly that if they spend all of their money each week, they do not have the funds to purchase extra supplies they may run out of or lose.”

Maynard also works to help other teachers within the district to best teach their students.

“I have worked in several roles to make our math curriculum more accessible and easier to implement for the teachers of Hamblen County,” Maynard said. “. In 2018, I delivered a district-wide training on implementing Eureka Math at our county-wide PD Academy. Additionally, I worked as the 2nd Grade Math Chair with Comprehensive Educational Resources (CER). I was responsible for creating, reviewing, and revising lessons with my grade-level team and these lessons are accessible to educators all throughout the state of Tennessee.”

Once Maynard moved to third grade she created Google Slides for her math lessons and shared them with third grade teachers in her district.

However, it is her relationships with her students that she is the most proud of.

“My students are successful because I have taken great care to foster good relationships with them. They know they are safe with me, that I love them, and they are not only allowed to make mistakes, but it is encouraged in my classroom,” Maynard said.

Kerry Stacy went to Tennessee High School and continued her education at the University of Tennessee where she received Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and a Master of Arts Degree in Education with a minor in History.

She began her teaching career at Carter High School in Strawberry Plains, in 2001 she taught at Lincoln Heights Middle School and then moved to Meadowview Middle School in 2002 where she has taught visual arts for the past 20 years.

Stacy encourages students that they can build a career out of their art and they are artists.

“From day one, I teach students that they are artists and Art is a business. We talk about how the quality of their craftsmanship increases the value of their work,” Stacy said. “We talk about the manufacturing process in an industry and how artists follow the same process in creating a work of art.”

Through a partnership with HC*Excell she works with local businesses and industries to see if they are interested in displaying her students art.

“The industry has the opportunity to purchase the artwork or they can return the artwork after a certain period of time. When I have secured the industry, I create a project that relates to the company. This could be based on where the company comes from or what they manufacture,” she said.

“After the artworks are framed, the 15 students deliver the work to the industry, where they present their work to the leadership staff of the industry. Students leave the day knowing about different career opportunities within the company and they are able to make connections between creating art and manufacturing a product for distribution.”

Stacy bases her lessons off of social studies and ELA standards to educate student on artists and art techniques and styles.

“The students create work based on different artists or cultures. I tie the artist or culture to their Social Studies and ELA standards. I purposely find artists that have interesting stories or relevance. They learn about where the artist came from and about their cultural influences on the artwork. I give the students a theme based on the artist or culture and they use their own creativity to create a masterpiece,” Stacy said.

As a teacher at a school with a diverse population Stacy ensure that all students feel safe and respected in her class.

“Part of student success is creating an environment where students feel safe and feel like they belong. Their families need to feel like Meadowview is home. In Art, I highlight different cultures to make students feel more included. I also created a cultural festival that encourages the “family reunion,” Stacy said.

Kevin Parker graduated from East Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages in 2018, shortly after he began working as a Spanish teacher at West High. In 2020 he received his Master of Arts in Curriculum & Instruction from Tusculum University.

Parker teaches his students Spanish by teaching them just as they learned their first language.

“I began teaching my students learning Spanish as a second language using a methodology called comprehensible input. This approach encourages students to acquire language, similarly to how they acquired their first language when they were young, and focuses heavily on developing reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills rather than focusing on explicit grammar rules and long vocabulary lists,” Parker said.

While Parker’s time at West has been short, he has made an initiative to honor his Hispanic students.

“I created, designed and implemented a Heritage Spanish program designed specifically for students whose first language is Spanish,” Parker said.

“Students of all linguistic backgrounds were placed in general Spanish classes, no matter their level of Spanish. While this approach was the norm, it was evident Spanish-speaking students needed a greater challenge. Thus, in the spring of 2019, I was permitted to teach my first Heritage Spanish class and have since watched the program blossom.”

With his program Parker continues encourage bilingualism by offering students books to read in Spanish.

“Over the past several years, I have accumulated more than 150 books written in Spanish to provide students with “choice reading” in order to continue to promote Spanish literacy. Each day, as a class, the students and I take time to independently read individual books in Spanish. In doing so, students have become connected with new literature, content, and themes while growing their linguistic abilities.”

Parker has also partnered with Lincoln Heights Elementary School for reading day where his students reads to Spanish speaking elementary students.

“I collaborated with administration at LHMS to create a ‘reading day’ in which my high school Spanish-speaking students choose a children’s book written in Spanish to read to students at the elementary school,” Parker said. “Although nervous at first, my students always return to West High with a sense of pride in their Hispanic heritage and Spanish language abilities as a result of their actions. The elementary students are ecstatic to hear familiar children’s books, such as The Cat in the Hat/El Gato Ensombrerado, being read to them in Spanish.”