Excellent Educators is a WAVY-TV 10 initiative to celebrate local teachers who have gone above and beyond for their students and communities during the last academic year. These Excellent Educators were nominated by their school divisions. Congratulations to these educators for all of their hard work and accomplishments!
Name: Graylen Boone
Division: Gates County Public Schools
Position: Science teacher at Gates County High School
What the school division said about this Excellent Educator: Graylen Boone is an excellent role model for his students and athletes. He is always well-dressed, cheerful, and collegial. Boone is respected and liked by his students and his peers.
Boone has served on several school committees that have had an impact on the climate and culture of the school. As a member of the Principal Advisory Committee, Boone serves as an advocate for the staff and students at GCHS. He works with the committee members and administration to provide solutions to problems presented by other staff members. Boone has previously served as the chair of the science department. In holding this position, he served as a member of the School Improvement Team.
Boone is heavily involved in the athletic program at Gates County High School. He has served as an assistant football coach, head girl’s basketball coach, and tennis coach during his time at GCHS. He has recently worked with the GCHS Athletic Booster Club to restructure the way season passes are sold. Boone helped the booster club establish different levels and make the booster club more inclusive. He helped increase participation numbers in the club and boost attendance at meetings. Boone takes student-athletes to one of the football camps sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes each summer.
Boone is involved in many extracurricular activities outside of athletics. Boone has sponsored the STEM club and the Gates on the Go Drone Team. Through his work with the STEM club, Boone has taken kids to Kings Dominion to participate in competitions. Boone has coached students to prepare them for drone expos over the last several years. Boone has prepared students to fly drones at pep rallies and at community events in order to showcase their talents. Boone works as a Science in the Summer Community Education Assistant Specialist through the Morehead Planetarium of UNC Chapel Hill. Boone works with high school students, university staff, and high school teachers to host science camps throughout the summer.
Boone utilizes a variety of approaches in his classroom. During the pandemic, Boone modeled the use of technology to reach students in a variety of ways. Boone is an advocate for using multiple assessments that help capture a true picture of the learning taking place in his classroom. He measures student learning utilizing a variety of different assessments by incorporating projects and technology into his lessons. Boone utilizes Kahoot and Quizizz to provide students with the opportunity to assess their own learning. He helps students understand the content in his classroom by breaking it up into smaller units. Boone utilizes spiraling to ensure students are building on previously learned material to create an understanding of new content. He utilizes technology and games to constantly review with his students.
