Heart for Students, Gift for Teaching
Shelley Green – GT Teacher of the Year

 

by Reggie Foster
Sangre de Cristo Sentinel

Custer County School District’s Gifted and Talented Education teacher, Shelley Green, has just been named the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented Education’s Teacher of the Year. Green’s recognition shines the light on one of the many good things happening in Custer County’s schools.

Green was thrilled when she learned of the recognition. Anyone who has been in her classroom or even in her presence understands the excitement and passion she exudes. Her energy is palpable and infectious. Green puts her heart into her work. She loves her students and they feel it – one of the many reasons they love her back.  In Shelley’s words, “I need you to know that this is my life’s work; to see my students…with eyes that illuminate strengths, passions, curiosities… and to elevate and support them into achievement.”

Green is very, very good at her life’s work.  Awards are nice but the very best metric of success is feedback from parents and students. Michelle Bennett, a parent of two children in Custer County’s Gifted and Talented (GT) program said, “ Shelley is amazing. And she deserves to be spotlighted, recognized and awarded.  Both of my boys love her, as do I.  Shelley is the reason my youngest doesn’t hate school anymore.”

Custer County parents and students knocked incessantly on the GT
door, eventually opening the opportunity for Green. Parents of Custer County’s gifted and talented students advocated, asked and pleaded for the program to be properly implemented in the school district for nearly two years. Thanks to luck and timing, in October of 2023, Green was hired into the position and Custer County’s GT students began to receive the services that the Colorado Department of Education says they are due. However, Green took the requirements to the next level by embracing both standard and nonstandard methods of teaching.

Beginning her third year as the lead of the GT program, Green’s students are thriving through her experiential model of learning. Green strives to mirror what is good in her students (and all people) and show them what they don’t see. She doesn’t focus on state scores and assumptions. Green noticed that one student wasn’t afraid of failure.  She equated this strength to the heart of an engineer. Green is now working alongside that student as he carves a path to MIT.

Green believes that GT needs to go beyond the “standards”. She tries to see the spark in every child and meet them where they are. She says, “When I teach we get messy. We are doing.” She is looking to support and fortify each student’s gifts in order to elevate them in their life. Green also uses these methods in her middle school STEM classes.

Green explained, “Elementary kids are easier in that they have a hunger and curiosity to do it all. By the time students get to high school, that hunger can be deeply hidden. I expose them to things without them realizing it.”  She likens her method to mousetraps. She keeps putting things out there, rockets, games, experiments, secret Santas, and on and on until some-thing catches them. The kids in her classes stay engaged and choose to be together when they can.
She sees this as the true measure of success.

Green is so focused on dialing into each student’s passions and learning that she worked hundreds of extra hours to plan a learning trip to California.  She applied for the High Mountain Hay Fever Children’s Health Fund grant and shared her vision with other charitable organizations in the valley in order to make this educational adventure a reality for her students. Green was successful in her fund raising endeavor.  Eight middle and high school students journeyed to JPL, the Santa Barbara Zoo, the Page Museum, La Brea Tar Pits, The National History Museum in LA, The Santa Barbara Mission, “I Modanari Art Festival” and the REEF. Every engagement on the itinerary was geared to an educational strength or interest of a student. These students volunteered their time for additional fundraisers to fund a “rest day” at Disneyland.

Green has been extraordinarily successful in her short tenure at Custer County Schools. She wasn’t licensed to teach gifted and talented students until the age of 52.  When it comes to her recognition and achievements, Green points to her personal choices. “Beginning at the age of 11, I chose to babysit and care for children. In every stage of my life, I have cared for, nurtured, volunteered, and taught children.”

Speaking of both herself and her colleagues Green said, “We are working very hard to illuminate the strengths of the Custer County School District. We are fighting for our students; to keep them, to engage them and to grow them to their greatest potential. I am fully committed to this community and especially to these students.”

Green will receive the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented Education’s Teacher of the Year award at an October ceremony in Loveland.