ABILENE, Texas — An Abilene Independent School District elementary school teacher has been named a finalist for the Texas Association of School Administrator 2024 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year.
Taniece Thompson-Smith, one of three finalists in the elementary category, is a fifth-grade science teacher at Stafford Elementary School, where she has taught the past two years of her 14-year career in education, TASA announced Tuesday.
In addition to being named the Region 14 Elementary Teacher of the Year for 2023, Thompson-Smith was the Abilene ISD Teacher of the Year and her campus teacher of the year in 2022.
Because of her travels as an 18-year military spouse, Thompson-Smith has taught in more than seven school districts across the U.S., Jamaica, and Japan. She consistently collaborates with community members and experts in the science field to design science-based experiential learning opportunities.
In the TASA release, Thompson-Smith said she believes “each encounter with children must be transformational and awake a sense of curiosity or thirst for knowledge that only education can quench.”
She leads district-level professional development workshops, which includes analyzing testing data and integrating science with reading language arts.
In April 2023, Thompson-Smith partnered with Future College Curls as a mentor speaker for 75 middle school and high school girls. In May 2023, she presented at the Clay Minerals Society International Organization’s annual meeting.
She received a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College in New York and graduate-level teacher certification from Rider University in New Jersey, as well as a master’s degree from California State University in Fresno.
The other two finalists in the elementary school division are Isela Russell, Wellington Elementary School, Lewisville ISD; and Genesis Yougas, Lawson Early Childhood School, McKinney ISD.
Finalists will be interviewed Oct. 19 by a panel of judges who are representatives of educational leadership associations, community and business leaders, a member of the State Board for Educator Certification, a member of the State Board of Education, and prior Texas teachers of the year.
The panel will select two state-level winners - Elementary Teacher of the Year and Secondary Teacher of the Year - and designate one to represent Texas in the National Teacher of the Year program.
The state-level winners will be announced at an awards ceremony Oct. 20 at Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Round Rock, where the 40 Regional Teachers of the Year will also be recognized.