Students huddle intensely over calculators and worksheets as the teacher scribbles the equations over the SmartBoard. After the lesson, students swarm around the desk in the back of the room for clarification the teacher is happy to provide. DeVonna Clark’s math classes are some of the busiest in the school.
Every year, Canyon ISD holds a district wide nomination for Teacher of the Year to honor one teacher in every school. Randall’s teacher of the year is Clark. Clark teaches Pre-AP Geometry and Pre-AP Calculus dual credit. She has been teaching for 29 years, 22 of which have been at Randall. Teachers at Randall nominated Clark for Teacher of the Year.
“I was very pleased to have the respect of my colleagues,” Clark said. “There’s an awful lot of paperwork involved in the process though.”
Teachers nominated must fill out an application with basic information. On the application they must list their degrees, professional development activities and presentations given. They must also collect letters of recommendation from colleagues and parents. The application is then submitted to the CISD central office. From there, all the forms from the district are reviewed to be entered into a final vote consisting of two elementary teachers and two secondary teachers. Clark passed the preliminary rounds of voting and is now competing against Canyon High School Teacher Lance Culbert for CISD’s High School Teacher of the Year. The winner will be announced at a brunch on May 9.
“My favorite part of teaching is working with the students,” Clark said. “I love it when someone has worked really hard to understand a concept and finally gets it. I also love when I hear students discussing math during class and getting to hear how their thought processes are working.”
Despite her obvious success as a teacher, Clark said there are still some difficulties in her profession regarding student understanding.
“The hardest thing about teaching is figuring out how to phrase things so that people can understand the difficult concepts in math,” Clark said. “It is also hard to find time to get everything graded while still leaving time to interact with students.”
Clark said in order to ensure student’s understanding of the material, she gives frequent quizzes and talks to students having difficulties. She also gives a day of grace on homework assignments for students who may have had an emergency and neglected to finish their work.
“I try very hard to describe the math concepts in a way that students can understand,” Clark said. “I use lots of analogies and review important things at the beginning of each class period.”
All of this work paid off for Clark in the end when she was nominated as Teacher of the Year.
“I am very honored to be chosen as Randall’s teacher of the year and as a finalist for District Teacher of the Year,” Clark said. “It is gratifying for my hard work to be recognized. On the other hand, I am humbled and mildly embarrassed to be singled out because Randall and CISD have so many good teachers that work just as hard as I do. I am only a representative of all those other good teachers.”
