Welcome to season 5 of the Orioles In-The-Know podcast! To kick off the season, Dr. Wyndham has a conversation with Avon Community School Corporation's 2024 Teacher of the Year, River Birch Multilingual Teacher Sam Smith, and River Birch Principal Heather Gorgas. Find out how Ms. Smith reaches her large caseload of kids from very diverse backgrounds — and their families — and helps them belong, learn, and grow. You'll be inspired as you hear her relate her passion for kids who are coming to Avon Schools who are new to the English language. "Through my experience of having multilingual students in my [general education] classroom community," says Ms. Smith, "I realized I was learning important things about culture and language from my students." Her curiosity and desire grew as she deepened relationships with multilingual students and families and as she got more involved in fostering an inclusive environment in her classroom, at her school, and in the community. In 2018, she began to pursue a Master's Degree in Language and Culture Education "with the hope that one day Avon would hire more Multilingual Teachers," says Ms. Smith. Sure enough, she was part of the first push to hire Multilingual Teachers in Avon. "I have loved every minute of it," she says. "I have the best job in Avon!" Stick around to the end of the episode to find out what makes Ms. Smith and Mrs. Gorgas Avon Proud.
Meet all 12 of Avon Community School Corporation Teacher of the Year Honorees in this video.