Angie Stevenson: Teaching her students data appreciation
You would be hard-pressed to find someone more suited to teach than Angie Stevenson of Cobb Mountain Elementary. Her first teaching gig? Lining up her stuffed animals in her bedroom. Having an influential fifth grade teacher sure didn’t hurt, and Angie never considered any other career!
Angie Stevenson does just as much learning as she does teaching. The Cobb Mountain sixth grade teacher loves to read development books on “new practices, leadership, growth mindset, anything [she] can connect into the room.” It goes beyond just personal knowledge though. Angie models reading to her students when it’s time for “read to self” and tells her students about the strategies she’s learning and how they can play out in the classroom.
“I like to be sure that everyone is challenged, everyone is engaged,” Angie says about her teaching strategies. To do so, she keeps things varied and the classroom is never stagnant. Collaborations and projects are some of her favorite ways to meet students’ individual needs. Her fast-paced demanding classroom reflects the real world but keeps her students excited about learning.
With a background in the Department of Education, Angie focuses on data. Not only does she use data in forming her teaching strategies, she also does her best to pass on a love of data to her students. With benchmark assessments at the beginning of the year, students can track their progress and take ownership over their learning in a way they can understand and appreciate. “That data-driven piece really helps get us there. The fact that they’re sixth graders, they’re ready to make that shift and own their own learning. They know they have to put in the work” says Angie of her data practices.
Sixth graders really can absorb data and feel empowered in their learning. Angie says her students each year have the realization that “the amount of work I put in in our daily grind really does come out and show our growth this year.” She believes in her students and, as she puts it, loves to (humbly) show the world how brilliant they are.