In her 6th year of teaching, special education teacher Mrs. Jamie Hancock was named Bixby West Elementary's Teacher of the Year! Mrs. Hancock prefers coffee over tea, summer over winter, and dogs over cats.
Mrs. Hancock was led to teaching by “the non-traditional route,” in that she worked at a university for 10 years before getting her masters and first teaching job. However, she feels she always wanted to be a teacher.
On the daily, Mrs. Hancock is inspired by the fact that “even on the hardest days, you can still find something that was positive.” In fact, Mrs. Hancock believes her best quality is her ability to stay positive, and she hopes it rubs off on others.
From her time as a teacher, Mrs. Hancock has too many memories to count, but notes her favorite among them being success stories of both students and fellow teachers. For example, a fellow teacher experienced a difficulty in her life but “still would come to work” and “never complained.” Mrs. Hancock believes the community at school to be very special. The group of students who simply must visit Mrs. Hancock's classroom before going to their own each morning certainly prove her point.
In addition to her memories from the classroom and of fellow teachers, Mrs. Hancock fondly looks back on being a teacher under Principal Shaw “because [she] was able to learn so much” and “she really taught [her] how to look at the big picture.”
Mrs. Hancock is an incredible example of optimism and grace in the classroom, and BPS is lucky to have her. Congratulations Mrs. Hancock!