Samantha Hazell '08 Named Teacher of the Year
After teaching just two years, Samantha Hazell has been named the 2010 Teacher of the Year for Warhill High School. Samantha is an English Teacher, AVID Coordinator, and Assistant Cheerleading Coach at the school.
Samantha earned her BA at the College of William & Mary in 2008 and her ISC in Secondary Education. She was active at William & Mary as a Varsity Cheerleading Captain.
Samantha teaches intensified ninth and tenth grade English. She encourages and motivates students' learning and achievement through creative and technological projects, kinesthetic activities, and the use of manipulatives in lessons. Students often act out dramas and dialogue in novels and work collaboratively to present criticisms or analyses of literature to the class. Students are engaged in higher level thinking and learning through the use of Paideia, Socratic Seminar, and Inquiry based discussion sessions.
Samantha enjoys being a Cheerleading Coach. She has coached Varsity and JV fall, competition, and winter cheerleading seasons and has coached over 40 young women. She held "Open Gym" over the summers to help further develop athletes' necessary skills for a regionally competitive program and focused on aerobic exercise, endurance, strength training, and conditioning. Choreographed and coached the Varsity Competition cheerleading team to place 7th at districts. She created the music for the Competition Routine. The program volunteered for the Sentara Sleigh bell 5K Race. Have traveled to the Men's Regional Basketball Tournament (2009) and Women's State Basketball Tournament (2010).
She is an AVID Coordinator- Lead the Advancement Via Individual Determination Site Team at Warhill High School. She was promoted to Coordinator in Spring 2008. Her responsibilities include attending forums in Atlanta, the district, and the region, meeting with parents and students to discuss future goals upon high school graduation, leading monthly site team meetings, attending monthly coordinator meetings, collaborating with administration, collecting data, and acting as a liaison for other AVID classrooms.
Samantha worked with the Determined Panelist- State-wide initiative on a team of 10 Special Education Teachers and William & Mary professors to develop and implement a self-advocacy curriculum for incoming freshmen and special needs students. She traveled to Charlottesville, VA for a forum and information session in October 2009 and was asked to sit in on a panel and present findings from classroom research in February 2010. She spoke about implementation of a goal wall and successful ways of accomplishing goals and overcoming obstacles through the "good day plan."
