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Teachers Score Big as Utah Jazz “Most Valuable Educators”
Description
They took center court during a recent Utah Jazz basketball game, but it wasn’t to score a point or make a free throw. Two Jordan School District teachers are being honored as “Most Valuable Educators” or MVE’s by the Jazz organization.
On this episode of the Supercast we sit down with Mountain Point Elementary School teacher, Charity Horne and Joel P. Jensen teacher, Mandy Truscott to find out what it takes to be an MVE and what makes them stand out as educators, elevating everyone around them.
Audio Transcription
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They took center court during a recent Utah Jazz basketball game, but it wasn't to score a point or make a free throw. Two Jordan School District teachers are being honored as “Most Valuable Educators” or MVEs by the Jazz organization. On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with Mountain Point Elementary School teacher, Charity Horne, and Joel P Jensen, teacher Mandy Truscott, to find out what it takes to be an MVE and what makes them stand out as educators, elevating everyone around them.
We're at Joel P Jensen today to celebrate an award-winning teacher, and we're talking with Aaron Hunter, her principal as well. Aaron, how are you?
Aaron Hunter:
Doing great.
Anthony Godfrey:
I want you to talk a little bit about Mandy Truscott and why she won this award. Tell us a little bit about this award and what's happening.
Aaron Hunter:
Yeah, so the Jazz and Instructure who run Canvas, they nominate, I want to say this is the first year. I'm not sure, it's a pretty new award. But yeah, people nominate teachers throughout the state for the Most Valuable Educator Award. Mandy was nominated and I can wholeheartedly say, I've known Mandy for a decade, and she's an amazing teacher. You can’t see her classroom, there's no kids in here. But if you walked in, you could, you could already tell by the way things are organized that she's a wonderful teacher.
Anthony Godfrey:
It's very well organized, it's exciting. It's bursting with fruit flavor. It's got colors everywhere, it looks fantastic. And I've known Mandy for a long time, so I know she's a fantastic teacher. Aaron, how would you describe Mandy Truscott?
Aaron Hunter:
So, Mandy Truscott is the teacher. Like if we ever, she never fills referrals out. If we ever got a referral from Mandy Truscott, we would know that it was a very, very serious thing because Mandy just does an excellent job at managing her classroom, keeping her kids engaged. As she mentioned, the growth that her students make is incredible. It's awesome.
Anthony Godfrey:
So you talked about the growth. Tell me, what kind of growth do you see in students who have Mandy's class?
Aaron Hunter:
Yeah. An average student that takes Mrs. Truscott’s class on average makes about three years of growth in reading from beginning to end
Anthony Godfrey:
That's incredible. That's incredible. Awesome. So in addition to there being astronauts, it's a time travel situation as well. Yeah. Because you're making up for lost time.
Mandy Truscott:
Well, that's why we say like they've landed on grade level. They do this like jump and I was like, it's like a little hyper speed. They're in hyperdrive and they eventually can get there, but they have to put in the time and effort.
Anthony Godfrey:
So I'm excited to hear that you got this award, Mandy. Congratulations.
Mandy Truscott:
Thank you. It was really exciting.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about your loot. What did you get as a part of this prize?
Mandy Truscott:
There was a thousand dollars to use in my classroom, which was really nice.
Anthony Godfrey:
Great.
Mandy Truscott:
We got tickets to the Jazz g