Teacher of the Year

Katie (Scotton) English is the 2023-2024 Chatham Charter Teacher of the Year. She is a third grade teacher who has coached middle school athletic teams and has taken on multiple leadership roles at Chatham Charter. In this feature, she discusses her journey as an educator.

Education is always evolving and changing. With all these changes, I, as a teacher, am always growing and learning. My first four years of teaching started in kindergarten. This experience is what really formed me as a teacher and I have carried the methods, philosophy, and patience that I learned in those beginning years into the third and fourth grade classrooms that I have taught since then. I was also blessed during the kindergarten teaching years to have great coworkers to help lead and inspire me. One quote that guides me is the Golden Rule, “Do unto others and you would have them do unto you.” Just as others helped and led me to strengthen my teaching, I try to be a great leader and share my ideas and techniques with my coworkers in hopes of directing them in becoming stronger teachers.   

These leaders have also driven my desire to further my education in leadership. One of my first leadership roles at Chatham Charter was to coordinate the school-wide Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework that gives targeted support to struggling students. It has been rewarding to help students outside my regular classroom and to see our school staff grow in better meeting the needs of students. In 2021-2022, I pursued and obtained a master’s degree in school administration. During that time, I gained knowledge and grew as an educator by assisting in planning and leading summer school and by job shadowing various leaders in our school such as Mrs. Foushee, Mrs. McCullough, and Mr. McCullough. This school year, I have also been given the opportunity to be involved in an instructional leadership cohort and am learning best practices for instructing and leading teachers to achieve their best educational practices.