Excellent Educators is a WAVY-TV 10 initiative to celebrate local teachers who have gone above and beyond for their students and communities during the last academic year. These Excellent Educators were nominated by their school divisions. Congratulations to these educators for all of their hard work and accomplishments!

Name: Kaitlyn Smith

Division: Edenton-Chowan Public Schools

Position: Third grade teacher at D.F. Walker Elementary School

What the school division said about this Excellent Educator: Kaitlyn Smith routinely designs and facilitates activities for her third grade students. Not only is she an active participant in grade-level planning sessions, she is also a dedicated member of the Community Involvement Committee and the K-5 Engineers Committee.

As a native of this community, she serves as a positive exemplar of professional education. Smith’s classroom presentation is inclusive of smooth transitions, organized methods, and highly-effective strategies. Her timely smooth transitions also benefit from research-based practices utilized during the presentation of lessons. Her effective strategies increase students’ retention of new information as her students consciously display an awareness of their individual cognitive abilities.

Smith believes that our children are our future and that every child can experience success. She differentiates tasks to assure that each child is learning at their fullest potential. She realizes the importance of student relationships and communication. She communicates with her students in a variety of ways, which include, but are not limited to, chants, sounds, and hand signals. She believes in being authentic and allows her students to share their voice as they gain new knowledge. Smith is a phenomenal teacher!