CLEVER CHAMPIONS
inspiring and empowering every learner
Clever Champions
Ryan Heflin
Ryan wears many hats in the district, including working with students in the middle school focus room and assisting with both baseball and football. Here are some thought from Ryan's colleagues:
Ryan spends his days helping many of the harder to help students. He gets to know the students and finds out what works best for them. He assists them in all subjects and is able to give them a safe place to work. He will come speak to teachers to get more information about what each subject is learning about so he can help all kids that pass through his room.
Ryan is both a baseball and football coach. He has been able to foster great relationships with the athletic students, not only on the field but off also. They know they can go to him for help with sports, and he helps them create workout plans to improve themselves. He spends hours coaching in practices and games, and always puts the students first.
After working with him for two years, I have seen improvement. He has been able to foster his classroom management skills exceptionally since he is routinely given students who are harder to manage. He is able to work through these behaviors and emotions that would normally be a distraction by building relationships with the students. He learns about their lives, and how they learn best. He is able to help catch those kids that fly under the radar or fall through the cracks.
Mr. Heflin is a leader because the kids trust him. Even students who hate school, will happily go complete work with him because they like getting help from him. Teaching isn't a popularity contest, but it sure helps when the kids like you. Even when he has to be a disciplinarian, he is able to keep those relationships because the kids are able to understand that he is just trying to help them.
Ryan is a Clever Champion because he is always willing to lend a hand in any situation. If you are struggling with a student, he will help talk to them to see what is really going on. If you need someone to cover a class, he's there. If you have a student who needs some extra help, beyond what is available in a large class, he is willing to step in and assist with that. He is the type of person who doesn't ask why you need help, just asks what he can do to help. He has been able to help foster a positive school climate, and his part is no small feat.
Tracey Gold
Tracy shows kindness ( and often times funny jokes) to the kids and staff everyday and makes coming to work fun. Tracy helps with the care to learn backpack program at Clever school Tracy is a wonderful teacher, always coming up with the most fun and entertaining ways to teach the kids about science amongst many other things.. Tracy is just a fun person to be around, always cracking jokes keeping everyone laughing. Tracy has spent so many years at Clever making everyone feel welcome, students, co-workers, family and parents. She is one of the many reasons I choose to seek employment at Clever school years ago. Clever school just wouldn’t be the same without her smiling face.
Dalynn Twigg
Dalynn is our K-4 counselor. She is definitely a person everyone wants to be around, and she brings a smile wherever she goes. Her dedication to students and her colleagues is phenomenal, and Clever is lucky to have her in our district. Her colleagues agree!
Mrs. Twigg greets students by name in the morning, and often has her pump-up music to get everyone excited for the day. Students know that she cares.
Through her counseling lessons, Dalynn teaches students important problem solving skills and valuable life skills. She uses various activities that allow students to learn a new skill and try it out.
Dalynn is always willing to listen to a student or staff member, no matter what the issue is. She encourages everyone with her upbeat personality and is very helpful during testing times.
She has jumped on board with Leader in Me. She also goes to conferences for counseling and uses her learning in her lessons.
Dalynn has shown leadership by helping teachers with students that have academic or behavior needs. She uses SIT team as a time to help develop a plan that will benefit teachers and the students. She encourages students to have conversations with their parents about jobs, manners, chores, etc.
Dalynn is a Clever Champion because she always makes every person feel valued and important. She cares about her job and strives to do her best. Being a counselor requires dealing with some tough conversations, at times, but she steps up and does what needs to be done.
Rashel Bussard
Rashel teaches middle school science, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. She is a tutor, a mentor, a sponsor, and a great example of what being a leader looks like. Clearly her colleagues feel the same way!
Rashel empowers and inspires students on a daily basis. She does this through not only her verbal interactions with students, but her nonverbal interactions as well. She supports her students by engaging with them on things that are important or interesting to them, even if she has not clue on the topic. Rashel demonstrates active listening and truly demonstrates her empathy of others in doing so. She is a sponsor for many students in her classroom by coming to school on time everyday and being a consistent positive influence in their lives. Also, she sacrifices countless hours sponsoring Student Senate and the activities involved with that organization.
Rashel comes to school DAILY prepared with an engaged, and usually hands on activity. She illustrates how Science can be not only informative but creative & interesting. Rashel provides students multiple chances to learn content, but multiple chances to actually master the content. She stays early and late for students to work either one on one with her, or she provides simply extra work time for students. All of these reasons support the idea that Rashel creates meaningful and engaging learning experiences for all students.
Rashel uses student interactions to help create positive social interactions. She provides students a chance to speak their mind, and speak their opinions in a safe environment. One prime example of this is the leadership and support she provides via Student Senate. Rashel dedicates time and energy to discuss things with students that they want to discuss; either school or non-school related. By Rashel being available to students at all times, she demonstrates a positive learning environment.
Ever since I began my teaching career at Clever, Rashel has demonstrated a reflective colleague. She has demonstrated this in the way that she continually improves or changes her instruction by revisiting her standards / item specifications. This reflective behavior is modeled to both her students and her colleagues, and this only benefits the Clever community even more.
Rashel continually improves her instruction by visiting professional development targeted towards her content area, and this in turn positively affects her students and her colleagues. By this constant reflection & improvement, she not only improves for herself & her students, but her colleagues that work with her here at Clever.
Rashel has taken on multiple leadership tasks here at Clever. From serving on MSTA to sponsoring Student Senate to simply serving as a model classroom teacher to her colleagues and students. There have been many areas that Rashel has served, but these are just a few.
Rashel has been a fantastic medium between students, parents, school colleagues, and community members. I have seen Rashel's bright smiling face at many sporting events or community events, and I have seen her bright smiling face talking with family members on how to best help their child.
Rashel is a true description of a Clever Champion! She supports her students by engaging with them on things that are important or interesting to them, even if she has not clue on the topic. She demonstrates active listening and truly demonstrates her empathy of others in doing so. She stays early and late for students to work either one on one with her, or she provides simply extra work time for students. She dedicates time and energy to discuss things with students that they want to discuss; either school or non-school related. By her being available to students at all times, she demonstrates a positive learning environment. She has demonstrated this in the way that she continually improves or changes her instruction by revisiting her standards / item specifications. This reflective behavior is modeled to both her students and her colleagues, and this only benefits the Clever community even more. Rashel has taken on multiple leadership tasks here at Clever. From serving on MSTA to sponsoring Student Senate to simply serving as a model classroom teacher to her colleagues and students. These are simply just a few reasons why Rashel is Clever Champion!