December 2024

Andrea Anglin, a music teacher from Helena Elementary School, was recently named Elementary Teacher of the Year for Shelby County Schools. Anglin has been teaching for 10 years, the past four in Shelby County at Helena Elementary.

Anglin is fully certified in the Orff-Schulweek music education methodology, which requires 240 hours of professional development for all three levels. Anglin plans lessons around this approach, which builds musicians through the integration of music movement, speech, and drama.

One such lesson is centered around the book, "The Parrot Tico Tango," which is told through song. Anglin teaches this lesson with the assistance of a parrot puppet, who delights the students by helping them to learn rhythms and improvise however they like, both rhythmically and melodically.

"By the end of the lesson, they were master improvisers who were able to feel the excitement of success," Anglin wrote in her Teacher of the Year essay. "Off is designed to enable all students to succeed in a way that is developmentally appropriate for them. One student's success may not look the same as their neighbor's, and that's okay! Students are given chances to differentiate, make choices, and create their own music."

By learning through play, Anglin said her students learned state and national standards, as well as experienced cross-curricular connections.

"More than that, my students experienced joy during the lesson!" she wrote. "That's the one thing I never want to leave at home: there will inevitably be days where I forget to pack lunch or leave my keys on the counter, but I will never forget to pack my joy."

Dr. Wanda Young-Lowe, a Physical Science teacher from Montevallo Middle School, was recently named Middle School Teacher of the Year. Dr. Young-Lowe has been an educator for 35 years, the majority of which was spent with Selma City Schools as a teacher and counselor. She has been with Shelby County Schools at Montevallo Middle for the past three years.

Dr. Young-Lowe holds three master's degrees in biology education, counseling, and school administration and supervision. She earned an education specialist degree in school counseling and her doctorate degree in educational leadership. Dr. Young-Lowe said she believes education should go well beyond obtaining knowledge; it should inspire meaningful change - a change that starts with oneself.

"As we gain more knowledge, we become empowered which makes us stronger, more confident, and more resilient allowing us to make better contributions to society," she wrote in her Teacher of the Year Essay. "This concept describes me and my beliefs about teaching."

One lesson she teaches helps teach students how their choices impact the world by showing them their own carbon footprint. In this interactive lesson, students obtain carbon footprint data by measuring carbon emissions emitted through their daily activities.

"The lesson's outcome is to make students aware of their daily behaviors and empower them to make more responsible choices that reduce their environmental footprint and contribute to mitigating climate change," Dr. Young-Lowe wrote.

After introducing the concept of carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, students were asked to track their daily activities - such as electricity usage, dietary choices, and transportation methods - and create a "carbon diary" for two weeks. The first week students tracked their data for normal behaviors and calculated the corresponding carbon emissions for daily behavior. In the second week, students conducted the same procedure but were asked to consciously try to reduce carbon emissions based on the outcomes of the data.

"Learning occurs when students become aware which causes them to think differently and make better decisions," Dr. Young-Lowe wrote. "This is the goal I want for all of my students - to learn how to engage in decision-making by critically identifying variables that may influence a situation. In this lesson, the students' awareness of their behaviors caused them to be mindful of their part in the ecosystem. Students learn they do not have to eliminate behaviors just find a way to decrease the amount of activity that can inspire real-world change."

Rylee Holt, an English teacher at Montevallo High School was recently named High School Teacher of the Year. Holt has been teaching for three years, all at Montevallo High. In addition to her teaching duties, she serves as the boys' and girls' varsity soccer coach and the girls' varsity basketball coach, where she has focused efforts on building team cultures that emphasize teamwork, discipline, resilience, and all team members feeling valued.

Holt teaches several 10th-grade English, Advanced Placement (AP) Literature and Composition, and AP Seminar. She wrote in her essay that she believes it is her job to help students see themselves through what they encounter in her classroom. By assisting students to imagine a broader future for themselves, she hopes to break the cycle of students believing that formal education ends in high school.

Through poems like Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and Langston Hughes' "I, Too", Holt helps students understand the perspectives of blue-collar workers in Whitman's piece and those of an African-American who has been excluded in society in Langston's poem. Holt said studying the poems builds students' empathy and understanding for themselves and the world around them.

"My main goal is to teach my students that when it comes down to it, there are only two types of literature: windows and mirrors," Holt wrote. "Windows allow us to view a way of life different from us and mirrors reflect who we are back to us. At the end of the year, my students have a stronger sense of identity and the impact of their story. While, I of course, hope my students leave my class with an understanding of rhyme, meter, and figurative language, it is more important they know how to treat both themselves and others with respect and empathy so they can make the world a better place."

Holt was also involved in ACT preparation initiatives at MHS, which she hopes will give students the tools needed to succeed and get them past apathy toward taking the exam.

"This is a test that most of our students are capable of conquering if they are given the right tools, and that victory can fuel them to believe they are capable of achieving what they dream of and deserve," she wrote. "I collaborated with faculty members in every discipline to organize in-school and after-school prep sessions specifically focused on the individual needs of each student. By providing these resources, I helped students and faculty feel confident and capable when approaching these exams, which fostered a great sense of academic pride within our culture.

Congratulations to David Bobo and Dr. JiJi Davis, who were sworn into office today for the Shelby County Board of Education. Bobo was first appointed in 2017 to fill the unexpired term of Place 2 on the board after Kevin Morris was appointed to the Shelby County Commission. He was elected to the position in 2018 and was re-elected for in November. Bobo is the director of community and media relations at Jefferson State Community College.

Dr. Davis was sworn in for her first term in Place 1 after being elected in November. She replaces Jimmy Bice, who retired from board service and attended his last meeting on December 17. Dr. Davis has served as an associate professor at the University of Montevallo for more than 15 years. She has served the past five years as the program coordinator for Elementary Education.

Monique Harton will serve as the new assistant principal at Montevallo Elementary School. Ms. Harton has 26 years of experience as an educator. She has worked for the past 17 years as an ARI Reading Specialist at Clanton Elementary School.

Oak Mountain Middle School's National Junior Honor Society students recently enjoyed a day of shopping for toys for the school's annual Toys for Tots drive. The toys were donated to the United States Marines during a special assembly on December 13. The school has raised more than $650,000 for Toys for Tots since it began hosting the annual drive 28 years ago.

Administrators and teachers from Helena Elementary and the entire Helena school zone recently attended the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence National conference where HES was formerly recognized and honored for earning the Blue Ribbon Lighthouse Award. The award is the highest honor given by the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence and recognizes schools that demonstrate exceptional academic achievement. Additionally, several HES teachers, Kathleen Keelin, Allison Festavan, Jan Hughey, Allie Clement, Amy Rooker, Julie Stephens and Brandi Abernathy, presented at the conference. Chelsea Park Elementary also had representatives attend the conference.

Shelby County students from various schools traveled to the University of North Alabama December 6-7 to compete in the Walter Trumbauer Theater Festival, which is sponsored by the Alabama Conference of Theatre. As the largest theater competition in the state, Trumbauer consists of 30 individual events, a one act play festival, and a studio theatre festival. Shelby County Schools had 24 student winners in 11 categories. In addition, the festival provides college scholarship auditions for high school seniors. Abe Ivey from Oak Mountain High School and Samuel Dunkin from Helena High School were two of the three scholarship winners. Bravo! to these amazing students and their dedicated theater teachers!