Classroom Leadership
Brittney Beck's Central Elementary Students Master the 3 R's and Beyond
Students achieve goals in reading, writing, arithmetic, waste reduction and recycling, earning
them Northampton County Classroom of the Month honors
Brittney Beck (ENC '08) teaches first grade at Central Elementary in rural Northampton County.
In December, Brittney, her teacher assistant Ms. Walters, and their students were recognized as
a Northampton County Class of the Month, and were honored at the school board meeting on
December 7. "I am most proud of my students' excitement for reading and writing," said Brittney.
She believes that fostering this excitement has enabled all of her students, even some who did
not recognize the alphabet at the start of the year, to reach the class goals of reading and writing
on grade level or above.
"Brittney puts a lot of time into planning lessons that allow students to work independently
and productively, activities that give students real-world applications, and science labs that
give students hands-on practice," said Ramsey Bowman (ENC '07), the Teach For
America program director who supports Brittney. "Brittney is pushing her students into second
grade level work, to ensure that they are set up for success next year."
"I thoroughly enjoy my time with Ms. Beck and Ms. Walters' students because they are so wellbehaved, attentive and ready to learn," said Carolyn Boone, the school counselor at Central
Elementary. "Ms. Beck and Ms. Walters are excellent teachers, which is evident in their students'
performance and attitudes."
In addition to providing rigorous instruction, Brittney strives to instill in her students a sense of
environmental stewardship. She wrote and received a $300 mini-grant from Northampton County
Schools to build a classroom greenhouse. Other green initiatives in her classroom include having
her students set a limit on the number of paper towels used each day, and keeping graphs in her
classroom to track the class' water, light, and paper towel usage. She also has a recycling bin in
the classroom, and when the bin is filled, the class will get to make its own paper in a recycling
lab activity.
"My students are participating in labs and experiments in which they are applying reading, writing,
and math concepts while they attempt to explain and solve problems," said Brittney. "The
recurring focus is an emphasis on the importance of taking care of Earth, which is hopefully
instilling in them a sense of stewardship."
In addition to classroom leadership, Brittney also leads two book clubs. The first provides corps
members a network for learning more about successful teaching strategies in specific grade and
content areas. The second book club, which will begin this spring, is for fellow faculty members
at Central Elementary. "Starting this book club is important for many reasons," said Brittney. "All
of our students struggle with reading comprehension, and both novice and veteran teachers at
Central want to learn more about how to help them. I think the experience of learning something
new together will bring us a little closer and help us practice sharing strategies and reflecting on
our classrooms."
This newsletter is part of an email sent on March 22, 2010 by:
Teach For America
324 Blackwell Street Bay 11, Suite 1160 , Durham , NC, 27701
Opinions expressed in this document or linked documents are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official
position of Teach For America, the Corporation for National Service, or the AmeriCorps program.