Award winner told she had ‘natural gift to teach’
By Priscilla Campbell \ Staff Writer \ pcampbell@nlrtimes.com
Friday, May 16, 2008 1:36 PM CDT
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| Sherry Ratliff, North Little Rock High School-West Campus teacher, was named the district Teacher of the Year on May 8.
(Photo by Priscilla Campbell) |
When Sherry Ratliff was growing up, people always told her she had a natural gift to teach.
She said her mentors kept saying to her “you should be a teacher.”
“I had wonderful mentors along the way to encourage me,” she said.
Ratliff started her teaching career in a Sunday school class. She has taught all ages in church and attends the Levy Church of Christ, where she still teaches Sunday school.
Ratliff has been a teacher for 27 years and was named the North Little Rock School District Teacher of the Year for 2007-08.
She has taught at North Little Rock High School-West Campus for the past 14 years.
Ratliff teaches the STARS (Servicing Today’s At-Risk Students), a peer leadership class at West Campus, and social studies. The STARS program works with preschool students for an hour a week.
Each West Campus student is called a Big Friend and is a mentor for a preschool student at Redwood Early Childhood Center or one of the elementary schools in the district.
Ratliff said the class of students teaches preschool students some type of personal growth lesson, such as skills to be successful in school, listening skills, following directions or getting along with other people.
“It gives them one-on-one attention from a positive role model,” she said. “I believe every child has the right to a supportive, encouraging role model and that no child can have too many role models as they grow up.”
West Campus students must apply for the STARS class and attend a three-day, summer training program.
“[Ratliff] is a wonderful teacher,” West Campus Principal Anita Cameron said. “She has a big heart, is a good worker. She is loyal to her students and they are loyal to her.”
Ratliff said she believes that education should be interactive and that learning also happens out of school - on the bus or on the playground.
She said she teaches her STARS students that learning happens everywhere, and that they must be receptive to those teachable moments when they could have the opportunity to teach a life lesson to a child.
Ratliff said she wants her students to know that learning can be fun and exciting. “I try to empower young people to be responsible for their own learning,” she said.
Ratliff wants her students to experience what they are learning in the classroom and her students get just that from the STARS class.
“[STARS] is about students experiencing real-life learning,” she said.
Cameron said Ratliff is one of the senior class sponsors, and she is always willing to go the extra mile.
“She is a great staff member and a great classroom teacher,” Cameron said.
Ratliff said it was a special honor to be publicly recognized for doing something that she loves so much.
“It is really an honor to represent all the amazing teachers of the North Little Rock School District,” Ratliff said.
She said that teaching is not just what she does, but that teaching is part of who she is.
“I don’t see this as a job, but what I was meant to do,” Ratliff said. “I am the happiest when I am working with children and young people.”
Twenty-four teachers were nominated for the award, and then five finalists were selected.
The other four finalists were Stacy Cochran, Argenta Academy; Jeff Killingsworth, Ridgeroad Middle Charter; Joyce Lofton, North Little Rock High School-East Campus; and Dottie Murdaugh, Ridgeroad Middle Charter.
