This September, Archie Williams Associated Student Body (ASB) announced the arrival of their appreciation program, “Teacher of the Month.” Each month, students will vote for the teacher or staff member they believe deserves recognition for their positive work, and ASB will highlight the individual with the most votes for their hard work and dedication to the Archie Williams community.
On the first Wednesday of each month, students will receive a Google Form in the Crew Announcements to cast their votes for their chosen teacher or staff member of the month and give a brief explanation for their decision. Once they tally the votes, they will release the results in the final PTV episode of each month.
Archie Williams junior and ASB Head of Staff and Student Appreciation Ellery Ford believes the program will benefit the Archie Williams community.
“[Through this program], we’re hoping to get [students] to talk more about things the teachers are doing that makes their class enjoyable and makes learning enjoyable,” Ellery said.
Archie Williams English teacher Chizzie Brown believes that despite the value of the program, staff members could be left unrecognized.
“On one hand, [Teacher of the Month] could make students feel more connected to particular teachers… but it also could have the sort of impact on someone either not feeling like they’re being recognized or valued,” Brown said.
Archie Williams freshman Luke Ghantous has criteria for deciding which teacher or staff member deserves his vote.
Luke hopes the program will help encourage teachers to continue to do well or push them to change their teaching practices to better benefit the students.
“[I think the program] will encourage the teachers who are doing well to keep doing what they were doing, while some of the teachers who did not get voted may end up changing how their learning curriculum works,” Luke said.
Ellery hopes that the activity of students voting for a teacher or a staff member every month will strengthen the Falcon community and bring students and teachers together.
“[ASB] felt that there’s a lot of separation between teachers and students, especially with rallies and dances, [and] teachers having to step in and be the authorities. We were hoping that this [Teacher of the Month] would bring the students and teachers together so we could be a more united community,” Ellery said.
ASB will announce Teacher/Staff Member of the Month for September in the last PTV episode of this month. Students have until the last Tuesday of the month, Sept. 24, to submit their vote through this Google Form.
