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 coronavirus pandemic. These Excellent Educators were nominated by their school divisions. Congratulations to these educators for all of their hard work and accomplishments!
Name: Savannah Campbell
Division: Gloucester County Public Schools
Position: Reading specialist at Abingdon Elementary School
What the school division said about this Excellent Educator: Savannah Campbell is one of two reading specialists serving 524 students at Abingdon Elementary School. When we returned to in-person learning, our second interventionist remained remote and unable to fulfill her responsibilities. A paraprofessional was hired to help Campbell. She and her para are currently working with between eight and 10 intervention groups a day, and Campbell is planning instruction for both sets of students.
Campbell has video conferencing sessions during asynchronous days to assure that her students are getting the help and support they need. She provides bags of manipulatives for students to use at home to support learning. She supports teachers and parents with their questions and offers suggestions.
Campbell provided professional development sessions during a schoolwide learning day. She also provided professional development for our kindergarten paraprofessionals and special education paraprofessional so they could provide intervention support and progress monitor our struggling learners. She checks in with the paras regularly to answer questions and assess progress monitoring data.
Campbell meets with teachers to address their questions and concerns about reading. She is a proponent of the “Science of Reading” and wants to educate her colleagues. She provides ideas for differentiation in the classroom and extra supports for home.
Campbell is our VTSS advanced tier chairperson. She organizes our meeting agendas, provides necessary materials, and assists with staffing of students. In addition to teaching, Campbell assists with bus duty in the morning and is one of the first to volunteer for anything that will help Abingdon students and families. She loves our kids with her whole heart. She was an Abingdon student and wants our kiddos to be successful.
Campbell’s colleagues shared the following:
- Campbell has been pulling eight to 10 groups a day since day one, helping with PAL’s testing, and is doing lesson plans weekly for her groups and the title one para. She’s a rock star!
- Campbell is the teacher and reading specialist we all wait for our entire career to work alongside. She shares, she leads, she encourages, and she teaches. Campbell supports her colleagues and shoulders a lot of responsibility, all while keeping a smile on her face and maintaining an unwavering bubbly personality. She truly loves her work, and this shows in all she does to support each and every student in our school. Campbell is the quintessential dedicated and professional teacher.
- Campbell is a supportive colleague whose love of teaching reading is contagious. She is extremely passionate about educating other teachers on instructional techniques for teaching struggling readers.
Campbell’s smile and energy will knock your socks off!
