At Shawnee Heights, many teachers and staff go above and beyond. We want to recognize their hard work and dedication to our district by giving them a shout-out with our district’s new Spotlight Award! Spotlight Awards will focus on one Teacher or Staff member throughout the district that has been nominated by peers, students, administration, and community members. (See the bottom of the article on how you can nominate a staff member.)
Our very first Spotlight Award goes to Sharon Covert! Mrs. Covert is the Physical Education Teacher at Tecumseh North Elementary. Mrs. Covert works hard to ensure her students have fun, are engaged, and are challenged every day.
Tecumseh North Elementary is an AVID elementary school and uses WICOR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading) as an instructional strategy in daily lessons. Mrs. Covert works hard to organize her class activities to incorporate the school's classroom curriculum into her lessons.
Mrs. Covert has provided several Project Based learning opportunities for students over the years. She collaborates with other teachers to involve them and their students in the projects. Some projects include Racing and Motion, Circus Life, Nutrition and Health, and obstacle courses with team building.
Perhaps the most highlighted activities for students are Mrs. Covert's Book Walks, Ninja course, and Skating Lessons.
Mrs. Covert's Book Walks are incredibly engaging for students. She works with classroom teachers to take the book they are reading and create different physical activities to correlate with the story. The students have a blast with these activities and understand how it connects with the story each time.
The Ninja course is physically challenging for the students, and they love it! The course includes a variety of obstacles, such as a rock wall. Mrs. Covert sets up the obstacles, and students challenge themselves to pass each obstacle and move on to a harder one. Mrs. Covert even arranged an interview with an actual Ninja Warrior Athlete who gave the students a shout-out during the show!
One of Mrs. Covert's recent projects has been teaching the students how to roller skate. She has worked with the TNES PTO to provide students with roller skates and protective gear. Students learn how to fall without hurting themselves or others, how to get up, and finally, how to roller skate.
Mrs. Covert is always thinking about students with all ability levels and makes PE and exercise fun for everyone. She helps the students set self-improvement goals and challenges them not to compete with others.
Mrs. Covert is always full of great ideas for projects and different activities. She works hard and is always willing to put in the extra effort to make her class meaningful and one that the students will enjoy. We are thankful that Mrs. Covert teaches at Tecumseh North Elementary and are proud that she is part of the Shawnee Heights USD 450 family!
Would you like to nominate a USD 450 employee for a Spotlight Award? Fill out our USD 450 Spotlight Award Nomination Form to nominate a teacher or staff member for the next Staff Spotlight! All nominations will be kept throughout the school year.