HJHS science teacher wins teacher of the year award
Debbie Smith, right, accepts the Secondary Education Teacher of the Year Award from Summer Stidham.
Hartselle Jr. High science teacher Debbie Smith recently won the Secondary Environmental Conservation Education Teacher of the Year Award through the Alabama Association of Conservation Districts.
She won both on the district level and state level. She was nominated by Summer Stidham, Education Coordinator for the Morgan County Soil and Water Conservation District. Here is the article that helped her to win.
“In the end, we conserve only what we love, we love only what we understand, we understand only what we’re taught,” Baba Dioutin.
This is Debbie Smith’s favorite quote and it is posted above her classroom door. She believes this mantra is the key to her success as a teacher. Debbie Smith has been teaching at Hartselle Junior High School since 1980. She began her career teaching Life, Physical, and Earth Science but the past seven years she has been teaching Earth Science as her primary subject. She was thrilled to start teaching Earth Science full time, as she feels this is where her strongest talents lay.
Mrs. Smith has expanded her knowledge of science to help educate the students of Hartselle Junior High by attending numerous workshops including Legacy Workshops, Forestry Workshops at Auburn, and workshops at Camp McDowell. She also attended a workshop, Mountain to Sea, at Desoto State Park, put on by Jacksonville State University, which she feels was an experience of a lifetime.
Mrs. Smith believes in hands on learning, so she makes every effort to create learning opportunities outside the classroom. She is the leader of the Environmental Science Club which brings in new speakers each month to teach the students about environmental subjects. She was instrumental in starting the Outdoor Classroom for the Junior High in 2001. She regularly takes her students to the outdoor classroom which is located off campus to show them the principles learned in class. The highlight of her teaching year and the students’ year is attending environmental camp at Camp McDowell. The students are able to attend food waste programs, conservation programs, soil education, and Native American Programs. She also takes her students every year to Earth Park in downtown Hartselle to learn about recycling, wetland conservation, and sewage treatment.
Mrs. Smith brags on her students as she explains how her sixth graders headed the effort to save the recycling program at their schools. In an attempt to cut costs, the school board decided to do away with the schools recycling program. The 6th graders were challenged to do research on the cost of recycling and found that recycling was cost effective for the school system. They then presented their findings before the school board. The school board was so impressed by the efforts of the students that they decided to keep the recycling program.
Debbie Smith is the epitome of a dedicated teacher. She teaches her classes in a way that fosters understanding of conservation and encourages efforts for wise use of natural resources. Mrs. Smith continually searches out innovative teaching methods of soil and water conservation education. She has made a name for herself by inspiring students to become dedicated to a cause.
