Notes from the Field: Newer Teachers An Unusual First Year
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his past school year was Tonishia Davenport’s third year teaching, but her first year teaching fifth grade. Before the 2020-21 school year, she taught second grade for two years. “I was ready for anything the entire year. There were so many changes that happened,” said Davenport, who teaches at Austin Road Elementary in Henry County. “Nothing was set in stone.” In Henry County, it was up to parents when their children returned to in-person learning. As a result, Davenport had to adjust her classroom on an ongoing basis to accommodate students. “When everyone was virtual, I could do what I had done in previous years and sort students based on their personalities, relationships, and data. But this year, I had to also consider where they were sitting in the classroom,” she said. “I had to really think about who they were sitting with, who had health challenges, who needs to sit by the board so they can see — or when a new student came in, adding a desk, reconsidering the spacing between desks, etc.”
teaches ninth and 10th English, serves as an assistant coach for both varsity and middle school football, and is the ninth grade head baseball coach — had the advantage of having graduated from Walnut Grove not that long ago. “I probably have a dozen or so faculty members who taught me and know me from high school, a few assistant principals who remember me, and also several friends around my age who teach here,” said Yancey, who is the first high school graduate of the school to come back and teach. “I feel comfortable around these people. It’s a little weird to call them by their first names, but they have known me for 10 years, so that has been really helpful.” The first year on the job during a typical school year would be challenging enough, but the 2020-21 school year brought a whole new set of unique challenges. Fortunately for Yancey, all of his students were face-to-face this year, so he did not have to split his time between in-person and virtual students. But the year was not without its challenges. “In some ways, it was a blessing in the sense that I didn’t feel like I was the only one who didn’t know what was going on. Even veteran teachers had to adjust to a completely new
These changes made classroom management even more challenging, said Davenport. “The most challenging thing is making sure that every student is getting me in a way that they need me. Differentiating in so many ways and then balancing that out day-to-day with the reading and math is difficult — especially when you are teaching all five subjects to students,” she said. For Mason Yancey, a firstyear teacher at Walnut Grove High School in Walton County, getting comfortable in the classroom this past school year took some time despite the many familiar faces greeting him in the hallways. Yancey — who August/September 2021
Tonishia Davenport with her class on a field trip observing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. PAGE ONE 19
