Classroom veteran named Ashdown teacher of year
ASHDOWN, Ark.—Becky Aylett, a teacher at C.D. Franks Elementary School, has been named Ashdown School District’s 2015 Teacher of the Year.
The honor was announced by Superintendent Jason Sanders on March 20 during a b re a k fa s t honoring teachers of the year from each campus.
Selected by their peers, campus teachers of the year are Jennifer Walker, Ashdown High School; Jeanne Burden, Ashdown Junior High; Nicosia Hunter, L.F. Henderson Intermediate; and Rosalie Tabler, Margaret Daniel Primary.
Aylett is a graduate of the Ashdown school system and has been a teacher in the district 29 years. With a degree in elementary education from East Texas State University, she taught fifth and sixth grades on two campuses for the first 25 years and now teaches third grade at C.D. Franks Elementary.
“Younger students and a different curriculum didn’t slow her down,” says C.D. Franks Principal Teresa Wake, adding she has a “whatever it takes” attitude about ensuring her students have the learning tools and skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century, including technology.
To make the adjustment in grade level, Aylett visited other classroom teachers and “borrowed” the best of the strategies she observed to implement immediately into her own classroom.
“As you walk into Mrs. Aylett’s classroom, the first thing you will notice is activity. Students are busy working in stations, on their own Chromebooks or at the teacher-led group table,” Wake said.
Respected by her peers for her professionalism, Aylett has served in many capacities, including grade-level chairwoman, Leadership Committee member and literacy chairwoman for the Arkansas Comprehensive School Improvement Program. She has sought additional training such as Pathwise Mentoring, CGI (cognitively guided instruction program for teaching math), Comprehensive Literacy Program and a twoyear reading course through Harding University.
“She shows respect to all students,” Wake said, “and pushes them to be the best they can be.”