HCSD 2nd Edition - Walk of Gratitude

We hope you enjoy reading about the second edition in a series of HCSD Walks of Gratitude! Today we feature Darby HS, “THE” Heritage MS and Station Sixth Grade.

In today's society we are all so busy. We constantly are pushing ourselves and each other to do more and to be more. In our quest to #BeELITE, we often forget to stop and reflect and simply say "thank you". To pause and take the time to tell those that make our lives better that we appreciate them for all the little things and big things they do to enhance our journey.

Within the Hilliard City Schools, we focus on instilling a passion for growth in ourselves, our staff and our students. We push ourselves to #TheEdge each day to be the best for our students, colleagues, district, parents and the community we serve. We expect to be at the top of our profession. We push to be innovative, to take risk, to demonstrate a growth mindset and to stay above the line. We strive to provide a world class experience for our students that prepares them to be ready for tomorrow. We believe we have created this environment within our district because of the amazing staff that we have in front of our students each day. Those staff members all are relentless in their pursuit to #BeELITE in their classroom for their students.

So today we pressed pause and took time to simply say "thank you". To show gratitude for all the little and big things these professionals do each day to create a first class experience for our students. To let them know that they are appreciated and that their hard work does not go unnoticed. These teachers demonstrate a passion for growth which has created a classroom culture that promotes risk taking and fosters student growth both academically and socially! They are preparing students to be Ready for Tomorrow! THANK YOU!

Hilliard Darby High School

Allison Kruder - Allison worked to develop a Spanish course for native speakers.  This is a new pilot in our district that provides a very personalized and unique opportunity for our native speakers.  She is able to explore the content and enhance the learning experience for students with a different background. 

Adam Olsheski - Adam creates a safe and collaborative learning environment for some of our most difficult students.  He fosters an environment of trust with his students and he encourages students to take risks. A growth mindset culture is valued and embraced.   He is invested in his students and he genuinely cares for each student.  

Shawn Morris - Shawn’s use of technology in the classroom has provided meaningful experiences for student’s.  His students are highly engaged in meaningful and purposeful lessons.  In addition, Shawn has taken on a leadership role as a peer mentor to other teachers in the building. He assists Maria, our technology teacher, with professional development for implementation of technology with our new One2One initiative.

Nikki Henkel - Nikki creates a learning space that is inviting and designed to promote creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication.  This quarter she invited adults into her classroom and asked them to talk about their love for reading and reading for pleasure.   She provides meaningful and authentic opportunities for her students.

Valerie Kulic-Brown - Valerie is the master at promoting creativity and collaboration.  She creates meaningful and authentic opportunities for her students.  Students receive specific and immediate feedback, not only from her, but also from their peers.  Students are passionate and invested as they can create quality work that aligns with their interest.  Val has a high level of energy and she invites her students to share in the journey of learning and appreciation of art. 

“THE” Heritage Middle School

Brad McConkey - Brad exemplifies what it means to be a true professional. He continually takes on the most challenging situations and continues to build fantastic relationships with each of his students. He is relentless in his work to personalize science for his students, and he is the first to show up to the building and one of the last to leave.

MaryAnn Best - MaryAnn has embraced the workshop model and really works to make connections with her students.  She always has a ton of energy and compassion for her students.  She constantly demands more from herself and is always ready and willing to try something new.

Ann Bowen - Ann has classes at capacity each and every period of the day. She also spends her “free” time (her lunch) with students to ensure they grasp the concepts necessary to be successful in Spanish.  She embraces the energy that comes with a full classroom and creates a fun/safe environment that her students truly enjoy.  Ann is always striving to take risk to try something innovative in an effort to maximize the learning experience for all students.

Matt Burgei - Matt has created an environment where he students have started to embrace the idea of showing what they have learned in different and unique ways.  The best examples of this that I can think of is Matts most recent unit.  In order to show what the students have learned a couple of students used Mine Craft to explain what they learned while another baked a cake.  Each of these examples demonstrated his passion for personalized learning and his emphasis on creating a positive culture within his classroom.

Hilliard Station Sixth Grade

Jason Loudenslager - Jason is a model for best practice in mathematics as well as the importance of developing trusting relationships with students and staff.  He takes on district initiatives with an open mind and implements them into his classroom lessons with energy and integrity.  Jason is a positive role model not only to his students, but all people at Station.  His peers confide in him for support.  He works collaboratively with his colleagues to take on new pedagogical practices such as the workshop model and creating standard based rubrics in mathematics.  He goes above and beyond to contribute to experiences in and out of the classroom.

Joan Pitstick - Joan’s passion for learning is exemplified from the minute you walk into the classroom.  Her energy and hunger for students to learn is shown throughout the year.  Students are engaged and take ownership in their learning.  Joan took on a big initiative last year, along with her colleagues, by creating Standard Based rubrics for all social studies standards. The time and energy put into this is noteworthy, and exemplifies not only her passion for growth, but her capacity for leadership.

Joy Grubbs - Joy is an outstanding educator who goes above and beyond with her instruction and student performances.  When walking into the classroom during Music in Action, the students are in continuous “action” by singing, clapping, snapping, and moving while they transition from one concept to another.  Her choir does the same, and the productions put on by the students are energetic and emotional.  She has created a Swing Choir as an after school activity, giving all students the opportunity to sing and perform beyond the academic school day.  The show choir as made public performances at the Columbus Zoo as well.  Joy has a variety of visitors come to her classroom to observe and student teach through Capital University.  Joy is truly an outstanding educator and person.

Kelly Davis - Kelly has worked tirelessly and grown professionally over the last year taking on a new subject and diving into both social studies content and the use of mastery rubrics.  She sought out opportunities to collaborated throughout the school year and summer to create and align assessments to the newly developed mastery rubrics. She continues to ensure all learning opportunities allow students to demonstrate grade level expectations.

Lindsay Fisher - Lindsay is an open minded educator who is always ready and willing to take on new projects and initiatives that will benefit her students but herself and colleagues.  She had the amazing opportunity to lead 4 new language arts teachers to Station last year along with the support of the secondary literacy coach.  Her servant leadership has created a cohesive team that collaborates and reflects continuously throughout the year.  She along with her colleagues reinvented their instructional practices by taking on the workshop model and have become an exemplar for the building and district.

Thank you to our building administration for fostering cultures in their buildings that allow staff to #BeELITE. 

• Hilliard Darby HS - Joyce Brickley, Chad Schulte, Matt Middleton, Adam Walton, Chris Ludban
• "THE" Heritage MS - Matt Trombitas and Nic Gaston
• Hilliard Station Sixth Grade - Kevin Buchman and Jacob Grantier

With Gratitude,
Dawn Sayre(@dsayre32), Mark Tremayne(@t_livinthedream) and John Bandow

Stay Connected: Please follow us as a Secondary Curriculum Team on Twitter: @hcsdseced

*See the story behind the Walk of Gratitude from Jon Gordon here​.