With her amazing leadership and innovative strategies, Mrs. Chelsey Dews has had a significant impact on her students, and Lynchburg City Schools is pleased to name her the division’s Teacher of the Year for the 2012-2013 school year.
The Bedford Hills Elementary School fourth grade teacher invests a great deal of her personal time and energy building relationships with students who have demonstrated the greatest need. She works hard to get to know them on a personal level and develops contracts with them to motivate them to succeed.
Mrs. Dews devotes herself to the school’s 24 Game Math Challenge team. Students play two mornings a week before school and often during Mrs. Dews’ recess time, learning from her the “tricks of the game.”
As a fourth-grade unit leader, Mrs. Dews has demonstrated her willingness to work with colleagues. She’s helped to shape and sculpt the school’s fourth-grade unit into one of the tightest, most focused units in the school. Mrs. Dews is one of only two African-American teachers at Bedford Hills. She feels a strong calling to help minority students understand that they can be academically successful. She brings role models to the school, and she played a big role in coordinating a very successful assembly for Black History Month.
Mrs. Dews has helped to develop the 10 Husky Habits that guide students’ positive behavior; she acquired an artist to paint a Husky mural on a wall of the school to build pride among students; and she has begun a picture framing initiative to make sure all students feel a sense of belonging to the school.
Mrs. Dews earned her Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Virginia in 2008 and completed the Skillful Teacher course in 2010.