Murphy – Avery Gibson is not only teaching students about science, but she also is showing them you can come home again.
Gibson is a lifelong Cherokee County resident who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, then put them to use at home by teaching in the school district that raised her. During the October meeting of the Cherokee County Board of Education, Gibson was recognized as Cherokee County’s 2019 Teacher of the Year for her good work at Murphy High School.
“We are so proud of Avery Gibson,” Superintendent Jeana Conley said. “Not only is she an excellent teacher in general, she has a master’s degree in biological sciences, a very challenging discipline, and she does an exceptional job with the content as well as the students.”
Gibson went to Andrews elementary and middle schools before being part of Tri-County Early College High School’s first graduating class in 2010. She got her associate’s degree at the Early College and graduated from Young Harris (Ga.) College, later completing an initial master’s in secondary education at the University of Phoenix. She added a second master’s degree from Clemson in August.
“I feel like it was my passion for education and teaching students how to be successful in the classroom despite any adversity,” she said. “I am a project-based teacher who enjoys having my students use projects to enhance real-life applications of their content, where the standards come alive for them in a real-world
experience.”
Gibson presented her teacher of the year platform essay at the Oct. 10 school board meeting, including an outline of five keys of “why to live out your educational purposes.” The first key is the one to the school, followed by the one to the classroom.
“The key to the building provides you with a view every morning as a piece of land that has been cleared,” she said. “If you arrive to school early enough, before all the lights in the school or workplace have been turned on or before students and buses begin to bustle, then you have seen the clear view. It is the time of arrival where there is quietness and a clear view for hope for success that is renewed every day.
“The classroom is the place we spend our careers bound within four walls. It is where the new teacher across the hall is seeing what items have been left after a cleanout of the former teacher, or where they have just learned that they have inherited items from a classroom teacher who had been in that exact room for roughly 30 years.”
The third key is to the content, what Gibson called “The blueprint for the courses that you teach.” The fourth is to the teacher’s lounge, “where you can be in a room full of adults for at least a short amount of time during lunch or after school. The place to have conversations with adults who are facing the same classroom management issues or classes size problems as you. They encourage you through advice and empathy.”
The final key is being part of a school community.
“It is the key that unlocks the doors to letting students see that you care and that you show up for them. It represents a grand opening,” Gibson said. “A ceremony to recognize you as a member of the community. It is the key that allows you to attend academic and athletic events. The key that gives you a conversation after Friday’s football game, or a reason to bond over the bad calls from referees with the volleyball team after Thursday night’s rivalry game.”
Gibson’s enthusiasm for learning is contagious to her students and colleagues.
“I like that everyday is a new day. That we get to start fresh everyday with a clear focus and mindset on teaching students skills to accelerate their knowledge and understanding in the 21st century,” she said.
Individual school teachers of the year
Here are the teachers of the year from Cherokee County Schools:
* Sharon Perry, Andrews Elementary;
* Sara Beaster, Andrews High;
* Jenna West, Andrews Middle;
* Stephanie Murphy, Hiwassee Dam Elementary;
* Beth Sharkey, Hiwassee Dam High;
* Carrie Ledford, Martins Creek;
* Margaret Jordan, Murphy Elementary;
* Avery Gibson, Murphy High;
* Charlotte Hill, Murphy Middle;
* Michael Noe, Oaks Academy;
* Shannon Palmer, Peachtree Elementary;
* Kelly Ensley, Ranger;
* David Payne, Tri-County Early College.