Clarendon teacher named champion educator by worldwide group
Published:Thursday | January 18, 2024 | 12:08 AMOlivia Brown/Gleaner Writer
Clarendon educator Donovan Rattray says his passion for teaching was ignited while working with at-risk students at a St Catherine-based high school. It was that passion, he said, that led him to being named the 2023 Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) champion educator.
ASCD is a worldwide community committed to the pursuit of excellence in learning, teaching, and leadership, with some 115,000 from more than 128 countries. ASCD encompasses a diverse group including superintendents, principals, teachers, and advocates. The ACDC aims to recognise educators who demonstrate outstanding performance both within and beyond the traditional classroom setting.
After examining the award criteria, Rattray shared that he found himself questioning his suitability, asserting that the award was beyond his capabilities. A month after, however, he found a ray of hope that piloted his decision to apply.
“I decided to take a shot at it, and created a video promoting my years of experience, teaching styles, and community involvement,” he told The Gleaner.
SIGNIFICANT ENCOURAGEMENT
Speaking of the award, Rattray expressed elation and dubbed it as significant encouragement to persist in making a meaningful impact in the lives of students.
Commenting on his 23 years in the profession, Rattray said that, after witnessing the challenges faced by inner-city students, he found a deep sense of purpose in guiding and empowering them through education. The dynamic nature of working with inner-city youth, who often encounter socio-economic hardships and limited opportunities, fuelled his commitment to make a positive impact. He asserted that teaching is not merely a profession but a transformative tool, capable of breaking barriers and uplifting communities.
“After completing teachers’ college, I landed a job at an inner-city high school in St Catherine. I decided teaching was the best fit for me, and I fell in love with teaching, and that’s why I’m still here. Inner-city high schools are very challenging. They don’t have the kind of students like some of the traditional high schools, so, as a teacher, I had to go to outside my comfort zone, and outside the box in order to reach my students, which means I had to dig deep into my creative repertoire to see how best I could bring them up to standard,” Rattray told The Gleaner.
Rattray currently teaches geography at Glenmuir High in Clarendon. In his former years, he taught, geography, history and social studies at Spanish Town High in St Catherine.
When quizzed on the most gratifying experience as a teacher, Rattray said, “It’s the gratitude and admiration students express for you, and seeing them grow and developing into what you want them to be. For example, I have a student working at the meteorological centre, and just the other day a parent expressed gratitude to me, because her son cited me as an inspiration for him wanting to go into the field of meteorology,’’ he shared proudly.
Positing that he will continue giving his best to the field of education, Rattray said he is guided by the mantra, “Life is a challenge, live up to the challenge, and nothing can defeat you.”