Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Teacher Profile topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Craven County Teacher of the Year, Miss Simmons, Emphasizes Perseverance and Real‑World Learning
Summary
At a recorded interview segment, Nathaniel, a fifth grader at J.P. Barber Elementary, asked Miss Simmons — identified in the transcript as Craven County Schools Teacher of the Year and his math teacher — about her teaching philosophy, memorable classroom moments and advice for students.
Nathaniel, a fifth grader at J.P. Barber Elementary, interviewed Miss Simmons — identified in the meeting transcript as Craven County Schools Teacher of the Year and his math teacher — about her classroom goals, memorable moments and advice for students.
Miss Simmons said her primary aim is that students leave her class as "better people, better humans, not just mathematicians or readers," and that academic skills should be accompanied by character growth. "If you want to succeed in life, then you really have to persevere. You have to try hard. You have to be confident in yourself and your abilities," she said.
The teacher described a most memorable classroom project from her first year: students created small school stores as part of a civics-and-economics lesson. "They came up with the prices. They came up with advertisements. They came up with the actual items," she said, adding that parents supported the effort by donating items and that the funds raised paid for a field trip. The transcript records the store operating "every day for about a week."
Miss Simmons also described how she keeps lessons engaging by connecting classroom work to real‑world uses, citing an assignment on planning a Thanksgiving dinner that paralleled students' family activities. She said she was inspired to teach by a high school math teacher, Miss Jane McCoy, who taught at West Craven High School and later retired; Miss Simmons credited McCoy with modeling relationship‑building and relevance in instruction.
Asked how it feels to be named Teacher of the Year, Miss Simmons called it "very humbling," saying she has taught 13 years and that the recognition felt like acknowledgement of her work building relationships and understanding her subject. She added that she believes all teachers deserve recognition for their everyday work.
The interview concludes with Miss Simmons thanking Nathaniel for his questions. The transcript captures this exchange as a single interview segment between a student and a classroom teacher honored by Craven County Schools.
