Riverwood Teacher of the Year Connects with Kids

If you detect an accent when Anna Swafford goes on and on about how much she loves kids and loves teaching, it’s authentic.  Riverwood’s 2009 Teacher of the Year is a Georgia product through and through, from Villa Rica all the way to the University of Georgia in Athens.  She teaches Honors 10th English, TAG Directed Studies, and is program coordinator for the IB Middle Years Program, a new position at Riverwood created to help meld the MYP curriculum into lesson planning for 9th and 10th grade. She taught in Carroll County and Paulding County before arriving at Riverwood in 2005.

Ms. Swafford realizes it would be easy for a student to think 100-year-old novels aren’t all that relevant today.  “I always seek a way to connect literature to modern texts, even if it’s through TV or a movie, to make the curriculum relevant to a 15-year-old.  Then I connect whatever we do back to writing: the more they practice it, the more effective they become.  Effective writing instruction shows kids how to assess their own writing, a skill they’ll use the rest of their lives.”

Teacher of the Year selection involves nomination, observation, and interviews by a committee that includes the current Teacher of the Year and assistant principal Kari Schrock.  “On observation day we recognize our finalists and celebrate what they do, but it’s bittersweet to only be able to select one of the six,” says Schrock.  “If I could capture and bottle Ms. Swafford’s commitment to student learning, her students, and the teachers in her department, I’d be a millionaire.  She truly has a love of teaching.”

“Having worked in other schools, I know that Riverwood has great students, and talented, thoughtful faculty,” adds Swafford.  “What is best for students is our true focus.”