Educator of the Week: Kelly Buck

It’s time to recognize this week’s Educator of the Week, brought to you by the Tennessee Education Lottery.

Kelly Buck has been teaching at South Gibson County Elementary School for six years, and she loves the surprise that comes with teaching her kindergarten class.

“Every day is not the same. The way you can plan and plan and prepare and it may go that way. But it may not go that way or it may go even better than you planned,” Buck said.

Buck says there is a lot that kindergarten has to learn over the course of a year, but her students are smart and willing to make it happen and be successful.

“What it looks like to be successful, what I have to be to be successful even in kindergarten. It’s amazing what kindergarteners can learn and what they can do when you just show them this is what is expected of you. And most of the time they go above and beyond those expectations,” Buck said.

And sometimes that learning can be loud. But that’s what makes her classroom unique.

“I would say it’s definitely some controlled chaos. But that’s how I roll, and that’s probably why I’ve loved kindergarten as much as I have. It may be loud sometimes, but it’s learning,” Buck said.

At the end of the day, Buck would tell her students that she will always support them and to keep going.

“I would tell them just to keep goin, that they have a teacher who is their biggest cheerleader, who is here to support them and their families,” Buck said.

Buck is now eligible for the Tennessee Education Lottery Educator of the Month award.

To vote for her or any other nominees, go to the Tennessee Education Lottery website.

To nominate an educator for our weekly award, just email us at [email protected].