Donna Davis

Hello! My name is Amelia Davis, and I am the daughter of Mrs. Donna Davis, a special education teacher at Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School in Providence, Rhode Island! Although typically teachers are not nominated for any teaching awards by their children; I wholeheartedly believe that my Mom deserves to be nominated for the Honored National Teaching Award. But before discussing her contributions to the education system, I believe it is worth highlighting Mrs. Davis’s educational journey that brought her to where she is today. When Mrs. Donna Davis was previously known as Miss. Donna Dyndur, she received the majority of her education within the City of Providence, Rhode Island. She is a graduate of the 1986 class from Classical High School, which is part of the Providence Public School Department. My mom knew she wanted to attend college upon graduating high school; but knew it would be difficult since she would be a first generation student. However, she did not let it stop her from going after her dream of becoming an educator. When still known has Donna Dyndur, she enrolled at the Community College of Rhode Island to obtain her Associate’s in Arts to complete her general education requirements. After completing this degree, she enrolled at Rhode Island College, located also in Providence, Rhode Island; and earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Elementary Education-Generalized Studies, graduating with magna cum laude honors in 1992. Her and my father ended up marrying in 1994, and decided to take his last name, Davis. Yet, she did not let the newlywed lifestyle stop her from enrolling at Providence College, earning a Master’s of Education degree in 1997; while expecting her first born. Throughout her entire college career, she worked at StarMarket at the time, and as a substitute teacher until finding a full time position, which just so happens to be at Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School in Providence, Rhode Island. Mrs. Davis has been part of the Providence Public School Department as an educator for thirty years, and reached her thirty year anniversary the start of the 2024 school year. She still teaches at Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School, which is the school she was hired for. Her specialty is Resource, and has worked with students grades kindergarten through five throughout the duration of her teaching career. Although I may not be a student in her classroom, I am fully aware of the investment she has in her students; both inside and outside the classroom. Mrs. Davis I believe is an awesome educator, due to the nurturing environment she provides her students, as well challenging them with a variety of material conducted in a way to not make her students give up from the work being too difficult; rather, provides an extensive amount of encouragement to her students. She often comes from work, sharing with myself and the rest of the family how proud she is of her students for understanding a new concept- even if it something as little as them understanding how to play the card game “Memory”. But, my mom never says the word “work”, she always refers to it as “school”, and refers to her students as “her kids”; showing her love for her students and career. Mrs. Davis also goes above and beyond to make “her kids” feel comfortable when they enter her classroom. Including, making “goodie-bags” for them when various holidays approach-including Valentine’s Day. She often asks me for assistance putting her gifts together for “her kids” because of how many she teaches and includes in this special thing she does for them. She does not often purchase for them things that she knows will be a waste of money, but things they can utilize in the classroom to positively enhance their learning experience. When Mrs. Davis speaks about her day at “school”, she often mentions different approaches she makes to “her kids” to get them excited to enter her classroom. She has mentioned how she gives them all either hugs or high-fives before entering and leaving her classroom. She also has a “prize bucket”, where she keeps stuffed animals, board games, action figures, and more! This is one of the staples in her classroom. Mrs. Davis claims that “her kids” always go to look in it and see what new things she has gotten for them. Instead of picking a prize for them when earned, she allows them to chose whatever they want. She also says that it promotes the use of teamwork skills to try completing tasks together, independent problem solving skills; but most importantly, reminds them that they can always ask her for assistance when needed. She does not give out prizes based off of who finishes a task first, or who scores the highest- but by the effort they put into attempting to learning new things. Even if they need assistance from one another or herself. Mrs. Davis recently started putting treats in another “prize bucket”, so “her kids” have a greater variety in what they would like to have; but also being mindful of the allergies her students have, purchasing only snacks or treats that all students can enjoy. She recently shared with me a story where there was only one king sized Hershey bar left in her “prize bucket”, because she didn’t have a chance to stop by the market yet. Two of “her kids” wanted it, however one was struggling more than the other to understand a task she had given them. The task being, playing the card game Memory. She also was participating in the game as well. From her emphasis on asking for help and teamwork being taken into consideration by “her kids”, the student who understood the game better asked her if they could work together as a team to try to win against her. The student struggling was against the idea, but Mrs. Davis reminded them that,“ sometimes two minds are better than one”. In the end, they had won against her, and instead of fighting over the king sized Hershey bar; they broke it in half, and shared it- without her even suggesting to do that. In regard to how Mrs. Davis lets “her kids” know she cares about them, she does this in various ways. To start, she is a certified special education educator. Which means she often is present in “her kids” IEP meetings, including the school psychologist, parent/guardian, and the rest of the case management team. She often informs the parent/guardian of changes she notices in the student, irregardless of these changes being positive or negative. She takes her time to understand the home life the student has, by actively engaging in conversations with the parent/guardian; trying to piece together if this attributes to the student’s academic growth. After being informed of this, and often will speak with the student herself, checking in to see how they are doing academically and overall. Mrs. Davis has also mentioned to myself and the family that she will adjust her teaching style and classroom if needed for the betterment of the student. Whether its changing the decorations, seating arrangements, rearranging her classroom furniture, or investing in new educational tools for the students; she will accommodate all of her students, even by asking if they are comfortable with it before she does it. Mrs. Davis also is quick to pick up on what her students enjoy and give value too. If she notices that they don’t like anything in the prize bucket, she starts asking them about things they really like, but discretely- so they don’t catch on as to why she’s asking them this. After gathering information on their interests, she purchases items that they hold value to, to put in her prize bucket. She always mentions how the looks on their faces is priceless, when they see all of the new prize selections they have. From conversations I have engaged in with Mrs. Davis, she has her own unique way of trying to motivate and encourage her students in hopes of them becoming more confident in regard to their academic performance. She often will ask myself to go into detail of the hardships I have faced in regards to my academic performance- especially during elementary school. Mrs. Davis takes the time to listen to these difficulties and see if she herself is engaging in the same tactics my own teachers used that did not help my performance. If she finds herself doing so, she tries to implement changes into her teaching strategies, hoping to benefit “her kids”. She also asks for the input from the teachers’ who are with “her kids” majority of the day, since she only sees them for Resource; in regard to how they see the student’s performance in that environment over hers. Mrs. Davis provides support to her students inside and outside the classroom in various ways, including myself and boyfriend at the time being an asset to her doing this for one specific student. During 2021, one of “her kids” was in the process of changing school districts, but the student ended up having to enroll at one of the Boys and Girls Club locations in Rhode Island. Mrs. Davis still was actively engaged in providing the student an education, since they were not enrolled within another school district yet. Mrs. Davis was very concerned about the student not receiving a quality education. At this time, my boyfriend was employed at this Boys and Girls Club location, and had developed a relationship with this student. Mrs. Davis had asked my at the time boyfriend, if the student had access to a computer to do online learning with her. Since they did not, Mrs. Davis started working with my at the time boyfriend to provide the student with a laptop from the school department, so she would have access to learning. This involved frequent drop offs and pick ups of the laptop between him and her, with the hopes of ensuring to provide the student an education while in-between school departments. I would like to personally thank you for your time for listening to Mrs. Davis’s journey as an educator. Although I may not be one of the many students she teaches, I always hear at home from her how invested she is in her students, as well as the love she has for them and teaching.

Amelia Davis