Home News RICE CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER WINS NATIONAL WRITING AWARD

RICE CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER WINS NATIONAL WRITING AWARD

9/17/2020

Kaitlin Jones is starting her first year of teaching this school year at Rice Creek Elementary School in Richland School District Two as a national award winner. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has awarded her the Donald H. Graves Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Writing. Jones is a co-recipient of the 2020 award with Mukkaramah Smith, a first grade teacher in Richland School District One.

Prior to teaching first grade at Rice Creek, Jones graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of South Carolina (UofSC) with a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education with a focus on Urban Education. At the UofSC she connected with Smith while participating in the Early Childhood Education’s Urban Cohort. Together they collaborated and developed culturally responsive and sustaining instruction which culminated in their writing an award-winning paper.

According to the NTCE, Jones gained in-depth knowledge on teaching through a focus on issues of race, ethnicity, language diversity, and socioeconomic status while building a deep and profound appreciation for marginalized communities, whose histories and heritage, are often distorted and omitted from curricula.

Jones says winning the NTCE award has been a validating and empowering experience. “It is such an honor to be recognized by a national organization like NCTE for the work that I do within the classroom. The work I do in culturally relevant education is meaningful, impactful, and most of all, beneficial to my students,” said Jones. “Winning this award has inspired a drive within me to continue to develop lessons based around who my students are as learners and as people.”

“We are delighted to have Kaitlin on the Rice Creek team of extraordinary teachers. It’s exciting to know that she is continuing to build upon and strengthen her teaching practices in culturally responsive and sustaining education in our school and district,” said Rice Creek Elementary School principal Stacey Gadson.

This award annually recognizes teachers in grades K-6 who, through the teaching of writing, demonstrate an understanding of student improvement in writing. Jones is the first Richland Two teacher to receive this recognition.