Elementary educator Jada Reeves from Mt. Hope, West Virginia, selected her state’s 2019 Teacher of the Year.

We are truly fortunate that so many wonderful teachers work in public schools in every state of our union. One of these educators is Jada Reeves, a fifth-grade teacher from Mt. Hope, Raleigh County, West Virginia.

Jada earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Concord University in Athens, West Virginia. She earned her Master’s degree in Reading Specialist from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. In addition to her degrees, Jada became Nationally Board Certified in 2013.

In a career spanning 16 years, Jada currently teaches at Bradley Elementary School. She has taught at that school for the last three years. She also serves as an assistant coach for a local middle school.

“I could not possibly think of another profession that would be as inspiring as an educator,” confessed Jada. “I adore my students and am passionate about teaching. Knowing I will step into my classroom each morning and tackle the day together with my students is always an encouraging thought,” she says.

In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Jada participates in many educational committees. She serves on her school’s Local School Improvement Council and she is part of the Instructional Practices Inventory Team. She also serves on the Leadership and Wellness Committees. Also, she conducts training for Raleigh County’s Innovative Team.

And that’s not all Jada does. She works for the West Virginia Department of Education as an online facilitator and Lead Coordinator for the Southern West Virginia National Board Certification Cohort. She is actively involved in the planning committee for the West Virginia Division of Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teachers and Teaching. And as if all that is not enough, this indefatigable educator contributes posts for the blog of the National Board for Professional Teaching, The Standard. In addition, she was recently appointed as a member of the Board of Directors for the Education Alliance.

Jada also volunteers on several community projects. She is an assistant Girl Scout troop leader and fosters rescue dogs from Operation Underdog.

For her work as an educator, Jada has garnered statewide recognition. She was named West Virginia State Teacher of the Year for 2019.

To read more about this amazing chalkboard champion, click on this link: West Virginia Education Association.

Florida teacher Kelli Cameron and hew new husband Matt collected school supplies for needy students instead of traditional wedding gifts.

I have often said that school teachers are the backbone of our communities. Here is another example that proves this is true. Kelli Cameron, a first grade teacher, who just happens to be a new bride, and her husband Matt, asked their wedding guests to donate school supplies to needy students instead of buying them traditional wedding gifts.

Kelli teaches at Roland Park K-8 Magnet School in the Hillsborough County Public School District located in Tampa, Florida. When she and Matt got engaged last summer, the couple decided they didn’t really need anything to begin their married life together. Since the students at her school weren’t in need of supplies, she reached out to nearby Booker T. Washington Elementary School. Teachers there gave Kelli a list of items that would benefit their students. The list included everything from notebooks and glue sticks to socks and underwear. Kelli and Matt then created a registry on Amazon, and the donations began rolling in.

“It wasn’t much different than going online and making a [wedding] registry,” Matt Cameron remarked. “Instead of crock pots, it was Sharpies and T-shirts and khaki shorts,” he said. “I’m not surprised at all that she thought of this and went into it so passionately, because that’s what she does every day.”

By the time the couple married on June 8 at the Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club in Tampa, Florida, Kelli and Matt had filled 70 donated backpacks with school supplies to distribute to Washington Elementary’s students for the new school year.

“Being a teacher, I put my heart and soul into the kids, and you try and give and give to them,” Kelli expressed. “How wonderful it was that we were able to do that, take something that was about us and help others,” she continued. “The kids who get the backpacks will be excited for that first day of school, and excited that they have that new backpack and new supplies, and are ready to start the school year,” she concluded.

Every teacher worries about the summer slide students experience during the summer months when kids are on vacation. “The research shows that if students have access to 12–15 books over the summer, the loss of learning over the two-month break can be minimized or even overcome,” asserts Misty Eidson. She’s a third grade teacher in the Mustang Valley Elementary School in Mustang, Oklahoma. To give her students access to those books during summer vacation, this enterprising educator became the “driving force” behind her district’s initiation of a book bus.

Misty approached her supervisors at the district office with her innovative idea for roving book mobile. That’s when she discovered that they owned a bus that was scheduled to be retired from regular service. Unfortunately, there was no budget to refurbish the vehicle. That didn’t stop Misty. She and a group of cohorts persuaded a maintenance crew to remodel the inside and build shelves to hold the books. They asked the Advanced Placement art students to paint designs to decorate the exterior of the bus. Then they solicited donations of books to fill the shelves. “Once people heard about it, books just started pouring in,” Misty recalled. “Our community really came together for this project.”

The Mustang Public School District where Misty teaches covers an area of nearly 70 miles. Nevertheless, the book bus makes the rounds throughout the community twice a week. The bus is especially careful to visit areas that aren’t located near a public library. “A lot of our kids aren’t within five miles of a public library,” Misty observes. “Having access to books is a need in our community. It’s a need in a lot of communities.”

To learn more about this amazing chalkboard champion, click on this link to go to the full story, which can be found on the We Are Teachers website.