On Thursday, Nov. 10, Oak Hill Middle School science teacher Susan Curtis was named the 2023 Baldwin County School District (BCSD) Teacher of the Year.
“I was shocked when I called onto the stage,” said Curtis. “My mind just continued to echo ‘wow’ as I stood there.”
Teachers from each BCDS school are nominated to become Teacher of the Year and are then voted on by peers at the same school and then at the district level. Finalists then attend the annual District Teacher of the Year Banquet where the Teacher of the Year is announced. At this year’s banquet, 2022 Teacher of the Year Seticia Smith passed on the title to Curtis.
“I am honored to have received this title and I hope I can live up to what Baldwin County needs for our students,” said Curtis.
In her youth, Curtis never thought about becoming a teacher. She aspired to be an artist and had a creative vision that would later develop her teaching style. It was not until she had her own children that she discovered an unknown passion for teaching.
“I began teaching in 1991 in North Carolina and later moved to Georgia around 2003,” said Curtis. “I began teaching as a substitute teacher when my kids started school and I loved it.”
According to Curtis, the students were the spark to her love for teaching.
Her students made her happy, helped her grow and allowed her to see change within them as the year progressed.
She explained that one student could have been described as the ‘class clown’ and often made her laugh. He also discovered a passion for writing through her guidance and his joy over the subject was forever ingrained within her memory.
“He took off writing. I was ecstatic to see him excited about a subject and enjoying what I was helping him learn,” said Curtis. “That was one of those moments that made me realize teaching was for me.”
When Curtis began teaching, she focused on English Language Arts and math, but over the years she has taught kindergarten to eighth grade in almost all primary subjects and some extracurriculars.
She has been teaching for 31 years now.
“Kids always tell me that they enjoy my active teaching style and being able to learn on their own,” said Curtis.
“I’ve always leaned into hands-on instruction since the beginning and my students have always loved it.”
Curtis describes her teaching style as hands-on with a focus on exploration. In her experience, students learn more when they interact with the subject.
She has applied this to all subjects she has taught and continues this teaching style in her sixth and seventh-grade science classes at Oak Hill Middle School.
“I love watching my students figure out things on their own and have that moment of an epiphany. They then apply those moments to other parts of the lesson or in other subjects,” said Curtis. “That moment is very crucial in science.”
Curtis believes the core of science is inquiry and exploration. She allows her students’ curiosity to lead them to an answer and only offers her guidance as needed.
“Science is a subject for me that is all about inquiry. I usually throw kids into a lesson without a lot of teaching so they can investigate first and create their own questions,” said Curtis. “Then we investigate their questions and I then use a more lecture-based approach to deepen their knowledge. This method is very effective as far as science goes and gives the students ownership of their learning.”
Curtis works closely with Physical Science teacher Kyle Redmond to improve her science classes and better prepare students for ninth-grade science.
She also works with mathematics teacher Rachel Adams to integrate more math into her curriculum.
“We can all grow and learn to offer different methods of teaching that can better accommodate our students.
All subjects contribute to each other, so I like to work with other teachers to incorporate other subjects,” said Curtis.
“For the future, I hope to include more reading and writing.”
Curtis said she is thankful for receiving this title and that she’s proud to be a Baldwin County teacher. She plans to continue to better herself and assist her district and school in growing as well.
“I love Baldwin County. We do so much to support our students and I greatly appreciate that,” said Curtis. “We have our struggles, but we are continuously working on them, and I am pleased to be a part of that.”