CHUCK WATERS/Clarendon Citizen - Byron Brown teaches in his English class at Scott’s Branch High School. He was named the CSD1 Teacher of the Year and is now eligible for the State Teacher of the Year for the next academic year.
Brown uses honor for motivation
Byron Brown has received the District’s highest honor for a teacher, but only uses that as motivation to reach every student he teaches.
Brown is a 10th through 12th grade English teacher at Scott’s Branch High School and has been named the teacher of the year (TOY) in CSD1.
“I feel elated; I feel that hard work eventually pays off,” said Brown. “I think it’s good intrinsic motivation. It’s that intrinsic motivation knowing that the time and the effort that I put aside working with the children and helping them makes me feel good to be recognized for that. It gives me a lot of pride.”
He is a teacher who knows how to connect with every student he teaches.
Despite different levels of knowledge or ways of learning, Brown has a way of getting to all his students.
“I try to meet my students where they are,” Brown said. “I’m not one out to get my students, but I’m trying to help them and encourage and motivate them to excel. I understand clearly that each student comes to me at a different level with a different understanding and I try to use a variety of modalities to reach them.”
Because of this honor, he is also eligible for the state teacher of the year for the 2011-2012 academic year.
One aspect Brown said helped elevate his stature to being named TOY was his methods of teaching.
Brown is a teacher who believes in really getting his students involved with each other.
He wants them learning in groups to spin ideas off one another and to realize that doing group work has more impact than work sheets and “busy work”.
“I like to have my students very engaged,” he said. “I’m not a work sheet teacher. I like the students to interact with one another. I think using cooperative learning groups, doing presentations, participating in oratorical essay contests when they are advertised, enhances their learning experience.”
Brown says he has students who learn better and faster than others in several ways.
There are those who learn visually while others may learn aurally.
Brown said his ability to mold his teaching methods to the individual student was what pushed him to apply for the teacher of the year award. He said he spent time determining how each student best learned the information and then taught his lessons in a variety of ways so that he hit everyone’s ability.
“I try to do a little assessment for different types of students,” he said. “I think the students become very comfortable with me as a teacher because they know when it’s time for the auditory learner, they’re going to do well.
“When it’s time for the tactile learner and the activity does come, then the students feel comfortable doing what he or she has to do. I apply differentiation of instruction into my classroom lessons.”
Out of all the material he teaches, Brown said the literature part of his class is his favorite and also a favorite for a lot of his students.
There are characters, people, things and places that the student can appreciate and relate to.
That is why he loves literature and it’s another way that he reaches his classes.
“Every person can connect with something from literature,” he said. “They can see world views because some of our children don’t travel beyond Summerton and the literature lets them know that there’s a broader world out there – a greater world out there.
“At some point during the year, they’re going to read a story or novel they can connect with. They can see how a character triumphed over struggling times. I try to bring literature to life.”
