Today’s #HCSHeroes Spotlight is Matthew Hicks, a third grade teacher at Soddy Elementary School. Mr. Hicks was nominated for his commitment to ensuring all parents and students in his class are on track and stay informed.
“My daughter absolutely loves Mr. Hicks,” said Alisha Carden, a parent. “He goes above and beyond for his students and parents. He is always ahead of the game and keeps us very well informed.”
Mr. Hicks has worked with Hamilton County Schools for twelve years and has been at Soddy Elementary School for two years. He teaches an in-person classroom of 22 kids. If any kids are in quarantine or if classes are remote, he teaches online via Zoom as well. Like many educators this year, Mr. Hicks has had to rethink how his class will operate in a virtual environment.
“A lot of how I like to teach involves student interaction and discussion, so COVID has really thrown a wrench in that,” said Mr. Hicks. “However, we've found some fun ways to keep that as part of our learning. I've been most impressed with how self-disciplined these students have been. Phase 1 was a time where it would have been very easy to slack off, but the students have worked hard even though they have plenty of things to distract them at home and went beyond what I could have even imagined. Now that we are back in school, the kids are excited to see their friends and learn in person again, and it's like they never missed a beat during the nearly two months they were not at school. To sum it up, the students have been FANTASTIC throughout this whole year!”
Mr. Hicks adds, “The kids have been great, but the parents have been unbelievable. Many of the parents and grandparents of the kids in my classroom have jobs they're doing while their kids were learning virtually at home. These parents have stopped at nothing to make sure their child was successful whether they were learning at home or in school and I am so thankful for that. We've all worked hard, but the parents have gone far beyond what I would've ever expected and deserve to be recognized for it!”
In addition to teaching in the classroom, Mr. Hicks likes to play games with his students during recess and do fun learning activities.
“My favorite part about my job is getting to hang out with the kids all day and be a part of their lives,” said Mr. Hicks. “Whether it's playing football with them on the playground or seeing their reaction to a cool science experiment we're doing, teaching is a blast and I have a lot of fun at my job!”
The efforts of our teachers and staff are truly heroic, and we are proud to have people like Mr. Hicks on our team to support our students!
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