ANDERSON, SC - Throughout her childhood, Jenna Hallman was told that she should become a teacher, but she wanted to be a lawyer. A job at a daycare center while she was in college provided...
ANDERSON, SC - Throughout her childhood, Jenna Hallman was told that she should become a teacher, but she wanted to be a lawyer. A job at a daycare center while she was in college provided the turning point in her life.
Hallman, a science teacher at Calhoun Academy for the Arts in Anderson School District 5, was named South Carolina Teacher of the Year last Friday night. State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex made the announcement at a banquet at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center that honored the state’s 83 district teachers of the year on April 25.
“Jenna truly believes that every child can experience success,” Rex said. “She uses a variety of strategies to help her students connect science to other subjects and real life. She’s champion of young people and a strong advocate for public education.”
As State Teacher of the Year for the 2008-09 school year, Hallman will represent South Carolina’s 50,000 teachers and participate in a yearlong residency at the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement (CERRA). She also receives a $25,000 cash award, a 2007 BMW Z-4 roadster to use for the year and a SMART board (an interactive whiteboard that turns a computer and projector into a teaching and presentation tool). She will participate in Leadership South Carolina and attend Notre Dame’s prestigious three-day Excellence in Teaching Symposium. In addition, she was awarded a Dell laptop computer, a set of Michelin tires and a ring from Jostens.
Four Honor Roll teachers who were finalists for the award each receive $10,000, a Dell computer, a set of Michelin tires and a Jostens ring. Each district teacher receives $1,000, and all 83 district nominees received various gifts donated by corporate sponsors.
Looking back at her daycare experience, Hallman said, “I was lucky enough to have a director and a head teacher who saw me for what I was – a teacher in a confused young adult’s body.”
Center staff never confronted her about becoming a teacher. Instead, they mentored her, supported her and showed her how rewarding the education field could be. They included her in training and encouraged her to take an active role in their accreditation process. Those efforts – and the children who touched her heart – pushed her toward education.
Today, Hallman’s classroom is a place where her students engage in rhythmic clapping or cheers to celebrate correct answers or accomplishments, either their classmates’ or their own.
“I use positive reinforcement more often than negative consequences. That’s because I believe that children who feel respected and loved rarely need negative consequences, especially when they are engaged in exciting lessons.”
“I encourage divergent thinking and have begun to give my students more choices in how they share what they have learned. I teach them to reflect on their behavioral choices and decisions about their work. We gain and share content knowledge through integrating drama, dance, visual arts and music. I hug them, tell them I care and show a sincere interest in their thoughts and feelings.”
Hallman has a strong connection with her community and is always searching for ways to involve her students in service learning. Together, they have donated food, blankets and toys to the humane society, collected and delivered food to a local soup kitchen, made valentines for the elderly, gathered supplies and written letters to solders fighting overseas, and participated in a litter campaign on Earth Day. As a member of Leadership Anderson, she is working to help create a board that will hear proposals from non-profit agencies and then support and fund their ventures.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Connecticut State University. Currently, she’s enrolled in Clemson University’s Master of Education program, which she expects to complete in August.
A 10-year veteran, Hallman mentors a fourth-grade teacher and has supervised student teachers. She is a member of Anderson University’s Education Department Leadership Team and has frequently served as a workshop presenter. In addition to being the lead writer and project manager for a $10,000 Toyota Tapestry grant, she is a two-time recipient of her district’s Golden Apple award for instruction in higher level thinking. She is National Board Certified.
Also during Friday night’s ceremonies, a third-grade teacher at Whittaker Parkway Elementary School in Orangeburg District 5 was recognized with the 2008-09 Charles Dickerson Community Service Award. Craig King is a cancer survivor who is a local, state and national spokesperson and advocate for cancer and musculoskeletal disabilities research and funding. In addition to volunteering with Relay for Life and Camp Kemo, he is a local, state and national advocate and spokesperson for cancer and musculoskeletal disabilities.
The Dickerson award was established in honor of Charlie Dickerson, former CEO of the R.L. Bryan Company, who was a leader in developing the State Teacher of the Year Program. It is given annually to a district teacher of the year who exemplifies the spirit of community service.
The keynote speaker for the banquet was Dr. Benjamin B. Dunlap, president of Wofford College in Spartanburg. Named one of the “Fifty Remarkable People” from around the world, Dunlap has spoken and lectured widely in this country and abroad, including time as a Japan Society Leadership Fellow in Tokyo and two successive appointments as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand.
His many publications include poems, essays, anthologies, guides, and opera libretti. As a writer-producer for public television, he has been responsible for more than 200 programs, for which he has won numerous national and international awards. Recognized also for his teaching and research, he is widely known as a speaker and commentator and recently completed his first novel, Famous Dogs of the Civil War, which awaits publication.
Banquet guests enjoyed a wide range of entertainment, including T.L. Hanna’s Jazz Band, the Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities String Quartet, the Round Top Elementary School Chorus and an original reading from Dr. Frances Hardy, a 2007-08 Honor Roll teacher from Spartanburg School District 7.
The Fairfield County Fifth Grade Ambassadors from Geiger Elementary School in Ridgeway served as banquet greeters and guest assistants, and Janay La'niece Glover, a teaching fellow from USC–Columbia and Battery Creek High School (Beaufort County) graduate, served as the evening’s narrator.
The members of the 2008-09 Honor Roll are:
This year’s Teacher of the Year Program was sponsored by the South Carolina Department of Education and the following sponsors:
PREMIER: BMW Manufacturing Co.
DIAMOND: Time Warner Cable.
PLATINUM: Michelin North America, Inc., The R. L. Bryan Co.
GOLD: Childs & Halligan, P.A.; CMC Steel of South Carolina, Data Recognition Corporation; Michelin North America; PITSCO, Inc; and SMARTer Kids Foundation.
SILVER: Blue Bell Creameries; BlueCrossBlueShield of South Carolina; Duff, White & Turner, L.L.C.; Duke Energy; Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A.; Jostens; Leadership South Carolina; McNair Law Firm, P.A.; Notre Dame Club of the Western Carolinas; Progress Energy; Publix Super Market Charities and SCE&G; The InterTech Group, Inc.
BRONZE: Alcoa-Mt. Holly, Roche Carolina, and State Farm Insurance.
Hallman successfully completed a two-part selection process by two independent screening panels composed of educators and private citizens with no connection to the Education Department.
The first panel graded the applications of district teachers of the year, and the 25 teachers with the highest scores advanced. The names of the teachers and the schools they represent were concealed from the judges during the selection process.
The second panel graded those 25 applications and selected five finalists, then conducted personal interviews with those teachers and examined videotapes of their classroom techniques. Each judge then graded the finalists independently using a numerical scoring system, and totals were tallied electronically by the agency’s Division of Educator Quality and Leadership. Not even the judges knew the identity of the new Teacher of the Year until the envelope was opened by Rex on Friday night.