Courtney is O’Neal Teacher of the Year

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

Amy Courtney returned to Poplar Bluff R-I after graduation to teach the next generation.

Courtney is the 2020-21 Teacher of the Year for the campus after nine years at O’Neal Elementary and 17 with the school district.

Intervention teacher at O'Neal Elementary School Amy Courtney works with students.Photo provided

She took on a new role this year as the intervention teacher. In this role, she works on reading and math professional developments, reviews intervention strategies for students and uses data to “ensure that all students are receiving appropriate instruction to meet their abilities,” according to her resume.

“She has taken a very active role in developing and guiding our staff in our new intervention school model plan,” Andrea Cline wrote in a nomination letter for the award. “… Not only is she knowledgeable about elementary standards and can help write curriculum, she can analyze the data to help create lessons based on student needs.”

As part of her job, Courtney works with students who are struggling with learning to read. She spends additional time with them and works on the areas they’re struggling in.

Intervention teacher at O'Neal Elementary School Amy Courtney (second from left) stands with other O'Neal educators.Photo provided

“She helps me read,” student Isiha Cook wrote for the nomination. “She helps me sound out words that I don’t know. She helps us with our spelling words. She asks us our good things. Mrs. Courtney is always helpful.”

Kadi Dare, the grandparent of a student Courtney worked with over this school year, wrote that while she’s known Courtney for several years, this was in a different light.

“At the beginning of the school year, Keegan was struggling with reading and didn’t really like to read,” she wrote. “This was disheartening to me as an avid reader and educator. Even though she had a slow start, Keegan has flourished under Amy’s instruction and guidance.

“… Amy constantly finds ways to engage Keegan and introduces stories that immediately grab her attention and get her thinking about reading in a fun way. Since being in Amy’s class, Keegan has expressed a new found love for reading and is making significant progress.”

Fellow teachers had positive things to say about working with Courtney, saying she is an asset to the O’Neal teaching staff.

“Regardless of her position, Amy has consistently been one of the most respected teachers in the building,” Counselor Gabe Thompson wrote. “Her highest priority as an educator is to serve the needs of her students.”

Along with being a teacher, Courtney is the mother of four and her youngest, Molina, is a second grader at O’Neal.

She also has a daughter at PBHS, as well as a son and daughter who have graduated from the district.

“I think my mom is a great mom and teacher,” Molina wrote. “I like seeing her helping kids. Classmates are happy when she comes to get them. I think she helps them to learn to read better.”