Blue and Gold Blue and Gold Winter Edition 2020 - Page 20

school of education
Memorial Elementary School
kindergarten teacher Samantha
Black sits next to a Memorial
School marquee, saluting her
selection as the 2019 recipient of
the Cole Chevrolet Four Seasons
Teacher of the Year award.
Samantha Black, a kindergarten teacher at
Memorial Elementary School, is the Cole
Chevrolet Four Seasons Teacher of the Year’s
2019 award recipient. The Bluefield State
College School of Education graduate (Class of
2013) took a few moments to reflect upon the
honor.
“I wake up every day and love what I do,” she
said. “I get to be hugged 50 times a day. When
our students enter Memorial Elementary
School, everyone loves them.”
She credits the faculty in BSC’s School of
Education with preparing and supporting
her throughout her undergraduate years. Dr.
Terene Stiltner and Dr. Shelia Sargent-Martin
have been with me throughout the process,”
Black recalled. “Each day with my students,
I use so much of what I learned at Bluefield
State—everything from classroom
management to ‘whole brain teaching.’”
Whole brain teaching maximizes student
engagement, where teachers use game-like
challenges, key words, and motivational
methods while eliciting continuous spoken
responses from their students, helping them
learn because they are actively involved.
After working for two years at a Mercer
County Head Start program, Black was hired
by the Mercer County Board of Education and
began teaching a kindergarten class at
Memorial Elementary in October, 2016.
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BLUE AND GOLD
Big Blues
teacher of
the year
BSC Alumna,
Samantha Black ‘13
“At first, I was unsure about being able to
handle the challenge because the students had
already been taught by substitute teachers
within the first three months of the year,” she
said, “but I quickly realized the children
needed me. I began using whole brain
teaching and, because the kids were engaged
in what we did, they began learning and
changing. It was exciting then, and every day
since then it’s still exciting.”
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On October 21, Dr. Sargent-Martin and Dr.
Stiltner attended the ceremony during which
Black received Cole Chevrolet Four Season
Teacher of Year award. “They have
encouraged me every step of the way,” she
added.
WINTER 2020
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