HCCSC announced its annual Primary and Secondary Teachers of the Year during the district's year-end breakfast and awards ceremony Monday morning. Flint Springs Elementary School Fourth Grade Teacher Lauren Davis was named as the Primary Teacher of the Year, while Crestview Middle School Sixth Grade Teacher Nichole Gilg earned the Secondary Teacher of the Year designation.
Davis holds degrees in the education field from Huntington University and Ball State University and is currently pursuing a master's degree from Western Governors University. Davis has 17 years of experience in education and has served at Flint Springs since 2019 after four previous stops in her education career.
Davis is passionate about providing engaging opportunities for students and maximizing student growth using differentiation, as this method allows for students to make learning gains and retain more content knowledge.
One of Davis's favorite examples of differentiation learning lessons is Glow Day, where her classroom is transformed with black lights, highlighters and glow sticks. Students participate in various activity stations around the room to enjoy the highly engaging learning experience.
"Lauren Davis was selected due to her excellent small group instruction and vision in the classroom," said HCCSC Teacher of the Year Committee Chair Lynn Brown. "Mrs. Davis is tireless in her efforts to support her students. She is a servant leader at Flint Springs Elementary School, and her peers seek out her advice and expertise."
Outside of her daily classroom responsibilities, Davis also serves the Flint Springs community as a math bowl coach, student council supervisor, cadet teacher supervisor, student teacher supervisor and iLearn proctor.
Davis has also contributed to the culture at Flint Springs through her envisioning and implementation of the school's "Snack Cart Friday!" project. Each Friday during the school year, Flint Springs fourth and fifth graders operate a mini business operating snack carts for the school. The carts are stocked with healthy snacks and each snack costs $1. Profits from the snack carts are used to purchase water bottle filling stations for the school, as the building had just one prior to the start of the project. The goal was to raise $1,000 of funding to add one station, but with over $3,000 raised, three stations were able to be purchased.
Gilg holds degrees in the education field from Mount Union College and Walden University and has 21 years of experience in education. Gilg has taught at Crestview since 2020 after five previous stops in her education career.
Gilg prides herself in assessing her students' needs, meeting those needs and then helping them achieve personal success while also preparing them for real-life situations. She frequently gives her students a choice in their learning style to show she values their individuality as learners and humans. Gilg enjoys using teaching methods such as differentiation, brain-based learning strategies, 21st century learning skills and student-directed learning and is intentional each day to create a learning environment and experience in which all students will find success.
Gilg greatly values the ability to foster genuine relationships with each of her students and invest in her students' social and emotional health. Perhaps no greater example of these passions is the influence she had on her Basic Skills Development class this school year. Initially the most difficult group she had worked with in her education career, Gilg eventually broke through to the students after identifying real-world connections in a novel being read in the class and providing a safe place for students to share about their personal experiences. By the end of the school year, every student was in agreement that Gilg was their "school mom," a compliment Gilg holds as the highest she has ever received in her career.
"Nichole Gilg was selected by her peers and the Teacher of the Year Committee due to her deep understanding of what it takes to be excellent as an educator and her unmatched passion to serve her students," Brown said. "Mrs. Gilg strives to serve each of her students based on their gifts and talents, even when the student does not yet understand their potential."
Among her future teaching goals, Gilg will be piloting a social-emotional learning curriculum next school year with her homeroom students. In addition to the in-class curriculum, community experts will share healthy physical, mental and emotional activities with the students.
Outside of her daily classroom responsibilities, Gilg also serves the Crestview community as a science academic team coach and mentors first-year teachers and is in the process of developing a diversity club at Crestview to help members of the Crestview community connect regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or interests.
Davis and Gilg will represent HCCSC in the 2023 Indiana Teacher of the Year nomination pool.