LaTosca Davis: Keeping it creative and getting to grips with the basics
Updated: Jan 28, 2022
LaTosca Davis of Clay Classical Academy has a true passion for education. This fuels her creativity in the classroom and her desire to find what works best for her students.
LaTosca Davis works as a math coach and, having worked in different states with different ages, she has a wealth of experience to draw from when creating effective learning strategies. "I've worked in tutoring, teaching, and at a community college," said LaTosca. In that role at community college, LaTosca discovered that older students were missing basic math skills. It was then that she realized that greater intervention was needed in grades 6,7,8 to avoid students struggling later on in their academic careers.
As an educator, LaTosca is very hands-on and makes excellent use of graphic organizers and colour. She understands that students all learn differently, which needs to be catered to. "It's all about being creative and seeing what works for them in the classroom and what will trigger their memory." Believing in the value of fun in the classroom, LaTosca also brings music into the class, particularly Smart Shorties, an educational hip hop brand for kids. She says this gets kids thinking about math, identifying patterns and memorizing basic math facts.
Always looking to learn and identify how she can improve as an educator, LaTosca attends lots of workshops and training and meets with her director to discuss what will help with instruction. She also talks to students too, to gain insight into what works for them and what might need to change.
LaTosca finds her career in education endlessly rewarding and witnessing students' growth and development is really important to her. She feels immensely proud of her students when they find the confidence to volunteer to explain math concepts and try to take on the role of teacher themselves. Hearing their success stories shows LaTosca the impact she has on students and the power that teaching has to transform a student and their abilities. Testament to LaTosca’s dedication to her students, she was awarded ‘Teacher of the Year’ for the 2019-2020 school year, and ‘Teacher of the Month’ within that same school year.