Davis is Neelyville Elementary Teacher of the Year

Editor’s Note: This is the final of 12 stories highlighting Butler County Teachers of the Year.

Neelyville sixth grade teacher Shannon Davis approaches every day with a clean slate.

Davis is the Neelyville R-IV School District elementary school teacher of the year.

Shannon Davis, Neelyville R-IV School District elementary school teacher of the year, is pictured on Halloween with other building teachers.Photo provided

This is the first time the Neelyville district elected teachers of the year for each campus. Staff and students voted.

Superintendent Debra Parish said the plan was to elect a district teacher of the year, but closing early because of COVID-19 kept the vote from happening. As a result, both were recognized.

“I’m very humbled,” Davis said.” I didn’t expect this. It was shock surprising. I feel like all teachers are deserving of an award like this.”

Shannon Davis, Neelyville R-IV School District elementary school teacher of the year, is pictured with her family.Photo provided

Davis graduated from the Neelyville school district in 1988 before attending Three Rivers College and earning her teaching degree from Arkansas State University.

She returned seven years later, while teaching with Neelyville, to earn her master’s in early childhood education.

Davis is heading into her 28th year teaching at Neelyville. She started in title math for two years before moving to sixth grade.

Davis taught kindergarten for 13 years after earning her master’s before returning to sixth grade math and science, where she’s been for seven years.

“I love the little ones,” she said. “I love the cute stories and their innocence, but I also like the sixth-grade ages I’m at now because of the personality that they have and the adult-like conversations that you can get into with them.”

Even before becoming a school teacher, Davis said, she taught Sunday school and children’s church classes. Those experiences helped draw her to teaching.

“It just made me see lots of kids in our community, and I think what drew me to education was just being around kids of all ages,” she said.

When going into school every day, Davis said, she tries to start things off with a clean slate.

Even adults have bad days, she said, and she doesn’t want to hold a bad day over a student’s head for the entire school year.

“It’s unfair to them,” she said. “We don’t know what the other person preset of the day was. They could have had something disastrous happen at home. You never know what could happen.

“So, I just try to remember that some days are trying, and we start every morning with a new slate. If it goes great, great. If not, we’ll readjust and try it again tomorrow.”

While Davis expects challenges with COVID-19 for the coming school year, looking back, she said, one challenge is not knowing what a student is going through that could affect how they are at school.

“We just don’t know what some of these kids face prior to arriving in school,” she said. “Sometimes, it’s hard to get their mind focused on what we need them to be doing that day.

“I just have a heart for them, and I want to make sure that I’m being that mother figure that they need. I’m an older teacher now. I need to be the mother teacher sometimes. Some of these kids need you to treat them with extra love and attention.”

Davis said her favorite part about teaching is being able to see a student finally understand a concept they’ve struggled with.

“I like to see when the light bulb goes off, and they finally get the skill method I’m teaching now,” she said. “My focus is math and science. Sometimes math, especially at the sixth-grade level, can be kind of tricky and when it finally clicks, that light bulb goes off. It’s a rewarding thing to see.”