Vanessa Smith radiates enthusiasm and warmth while actively engaging her first grade students at Croft Community School. With an emphasis on data-driven practices and whole-child growth, Smith employs creative instructional practices that address each student’s educational and social-emotional needs. Through using tailored instructive methods, Smith ensures students’ academic needs are met by implementing small group centers and inviting students to solve problems at the board, which creates a significant, positive impact on their growth through peer-based learning. Innovative methods like singing memorable chants and songs establish a solid foundation for literacy and math development that will serve them well as they continue their educational journeys. Students frequently demonstrate increased proficiency and significant growth from the beginning to the end of the school year.
Early in her career, Smith is active in professional development throughout her school and community through mentoring beginning teachers, hosting new and veteran teachers in her classroom for observation and helping the Professional Learning Community (PLC) prepare for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of literacy skills. Smith became the first-ever Teacher in Residence for “Classroom Central,” where she represented teachers across North Carolina’s southwest region as a teacher leader on the board, making educational decisions that impact her peers while providing a voice for equity in education. As an Extended Impact Teacher in the district's Teacher Leader Pathway Program, Smith successfully completed a rigorous application process and demonstrated consistent, exceptional growth in her students' performance, as reflected by the data. Additionally at the district level, she has presented on the impact of the pandemic in Title I schools.
Smith is National Board Certified. She earned a Bachelor of Science in elementary and special education from Seton Hall University in 2019.
Press Release: Holiday Surprise: Charlotte Teacher Presented with $25,000 Milken Educator Award
