One local educator recognized various times by Oxford parents and teachers for their contributions in the classroom is kindergarten teacher Heather Davidson.
The Bogan Elementary School teacher has been an educator for 32 years, all in the Talawanda School District. Davidson started in the gifted classroom, taught second grade for 18 years, first grade for one and has been in kindergarten since.
Davidson received her bachelor of education degree from Ohio State University and her master’s at Miami University. However, education was not originally what she chose. At the beginning of her undergrad, Davidson chose physical therapy as her major, but not long into her college career, she knew it was not the career she deeply wanted to pursue.
“I knew within a semester. I remember calling my parents and saying, ‘I just want to be a teacher,'” said Davidson.
Her mother was a teacher, and throughout her life, Davidson has had a deep love and appreciation for school and learning. Even as a child, she recalled always having a book in hand and admiring each educator she encountered.
“I loved school. Every one of my teachers I thought was the best in the world. I could name you all of my teachers through eighth grade. I still remember my kindergarten teacher,” Davidson said. “I always wanted to go to school.”
Davidson said her philosophy is that the classroom should be a second home: a place of comfort, safety and family. In order to successfully teach a child, it must be apparent you care about them.
“I honestly believe they are not going to make progress in academics unless they truly believe that you are here for them,” Davidson said. “I think it’s important that in every classroom, the kids and the teacher feel like a family. The kids have to know that you love them. They have to know you believe in them, and they have to know that you are there to support them, and they have to feel safe.”
In recognition of her hard work and work in and out of the classroom, the Greater Oxford Community Foundation named Davidson “The Harry and Virginia Teckman Award Recipient” in 2022. The award is given to those who show outstanding work and excellence in the field for current and retired staff.
In a letter nominating Davidson for the award, Sarah Currier, Bogan teacher, wrote, “Mrs. Davidson is a strong leader in her classroom as she guides, encourages, teaches, and loves her students each day. The academics Heather so creatively teaches create a strong foundation that sets her students up to be successful.“
Davidson said she recognizes that as an early education teacher, her job is not only to teach students the curriculum, but also to push them to find the same love and appreciation of school as she did. Watching her students develop new knowledge and this love for learning new things is her favorite part of the job.
“If you don’t leave kindergarten loving school, that is a big problem, and so I think that’s my favorite thing, just seeing their excitement, and the fact that they’re growing and changing every day,” Davidson said. “I don’t know how, as a teacher, you can’t be excited when you see children be excited.”
Although she has been the head of a classroom for 32 years, Davidson continues to learn new things in her career every year. While she does take classes, much of her newly gained knowledge comes from watching younger teachers.
“I think the most important thing is to continue to learn from these new young teachers, they have a different perspective [and] they have a different skill set,” Davidson said. “I just think it’s important that I continue to talk to them and get their perspective on their generation. This is a new generation of students, so I need to learn from a new generation of teachers.”
While Davidson continues to create a loving, family-like atmosphere in her classroom and learn from others, she and other faculty at Bogan are actively looking for ways to enhance their school.
In September, the elementary school ranked lowest in the Talawanda district. The school received 11 out of 20 stars, with three out of five overall from the Ohio Department of Education. According to the department’s website, Bogan missed one point in early literacy, two in achievement and three in progress and gap closing.
Although the score could have been better, Bogan faculty members have been meeting with one another and other Talawanda faculty members to identify better skills and techniques to use in the classroom.
“We are already having meetings, and one area we’re focusing on is math, because our scores in math were not obviously where we would like them to be,” said Davidson. “And so we’re meeting across grade level to think about, ‘OK, if these are the skills in fifth grade that we’re not performing well on on the test, how do we support that all the way back into kindergarten?'”
