Celebrating Excellence: Meet Our April A+ Educators Making a Difference Every Day!
It's time to celebrate our community's newest A+ Educators! In this post, we're excited to highlight the latest nominees—teachers and staff chosen by their peers for going above and beyond in supporting their students and colleagues. The A+ Educator Awards are our way of expressing gratitude to the outstanding educators who make a difference every day.
Each of these winners receives a gift certificate sponsored by Lingo Networks to Remedy Burger in Downtown Staunton to celebrate their success!
Elementary School Winner: Mindy Berry
Position: Preschool Teacher
School: Churchville Elementary School
Our Elementary Teacher of the Month is Ms. Mindy Berry. Ms. Berry is a preschool teacher at Churchville Elementary School. This is her first year at Churchville and her first year teaching preschool. She has previously been a kindergarten teacher for over 20 years in Rockingham County. Ms. Berry comes to school each day full of energy and ready to help our youngest students learn and grow in an inclusive welcoming environment. She encourages her students and works to bring learning to life.
Her students have been involved in hands on, engaging learning like learning about, growing, and releasing butterflies, learning about her farm animals, and most recently her students were able to learn about and hatch baby chicks. She is an excellent addition to Churchville Elementary School and certainly deserves to be honored as our teacher of the month.
Middle School Winner: Heidi Whitecotton
Position: 8th Grade Science Teacher
School: Stewart Middle School
The middle school teacher of the month is Heidi Whitecotton. Mrs. Whitecotton is an 8th grade science teacher at Stewart Middle School. She also serves as the science department chair for SMS. Mrs. Whitecotton has served in a variety of leadership roles across the division in addition to her school. Mrs. Whitecotton makes science come alive in her classroom and tackles the rigor of 8th grade science while making her content accessible to every student in her classroom.
Her classroom is engaging and students are given a variety of ways to interact with science content that makes even the most challenging content fun! Her students are treated as young scientists and she has created a classroom community that encourages exploration, higher level thinking, and ultimately deeper learning. We thank Mrs. Whitecotton for her enthusiasm and dedication to her students and science content across the division.
High School Winner: Joyce Knight
Position: 9th Grade English Teacher
School: Buffalo Gap High School
Our high school teacher of the month is Joyce Knight. Joyce is an outstanding English teacher at Buffalo Gap High School. She has been described by her colleagues as innovative. This is certainly true as Joyce consistently works to make material engaging and relevant to her students. She challenges students to think deeply and critically while helping them to develop their reading and writing.
She has created a classroom community that is inviting and encourages students to respect their classmates and the work in that room. Mrs. Knight’s innovative, engaging, and rigorous approach to teaching English make her the deserving recipient of the High School Lingo Teacher of the month for April.
Congrats to all of the A+ Educators award winners! We appreciate everything you do to make sure students in our community have an excellent education.
If you have questions about your Lingo services, we’d love to talk with you. You can reach us at (540) 712-0300 or by emailing us at getservice@mgwnetworks.com.
