When I first became a teacher, I wasn’t aware of the type I wanted to be; all I knew was that I wanted to teach. As the first few months went on, I observed amazing teachers. Teachers that taught with flare, fun cheers, and really dug deep into the kids minds and got their little brains working. I saw all these things and tried to figure out how I was going to do all those amazing things while still actually learning how to teach! That was hard.
It wasn’t until my second year of teaching, where I met a teacher who had the flare, the cheers, the conceptual conversations and most of all, the FUN, in the classroom. The teacher that would sit down, show me the ropes and tell me how she made this magic happen. I found out she was a teacher who took her read-aloud books home weeks in advance, who dared to question decisions based on what was best for kids, manipulated an entire ELA curriculum for her team, and who wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty into all content related conversations. This teacher was Ms. Brittany Davis.
Every time I walked into Ms. Davis’ room, I was in awe. I saw how much her children loved her, I saw what she was able to do with and for them. I was always watching and learning from Ms. Davis’ teacher moves, constantly in ear her asking, “How are you about to teach this lesson?” From late night internalizations where we broke down common-core standards, to practicing crucial parent conversations, Ms. Davis provided me with the mold of what effective teaching should look, sound and feel like. Because of Ms. Brittany Davis, I have become not only a better teacher, but a better person. Thank you, Ms. Davis, for inspiring and creating a better Ms. Cheatham.
Dominique Cheatham, KURA
For Love of the Game 