Asbury Educator of the Month: Amanda Nugent
Welcome to Nugent Nation. That’s Amanda Nugent’s third-grade classroom at Huntertown Elementary in Versailles, where the national motto is “Never Settle for Less Than Your Best” and where all children receive a hug from their teacher every morning. Her students came up with the name for the room and even created a digital flag.
Taking input from her students is nothing new for Nugent. In fact, it’s one of the hallmarks of her classroom.
“I value my students’ opinions, and it’s clear that this is our classroom,” she said. “I think I read my students well. I want to keep them attentive. If I ever lose them, I bring them back with a new activity or something to get them engaged. I tell them that my main goal is to make them enjoy being here. When they love being here, then I do, too.”
Nugent keeps a comments board in the room where students can provide ideas. Before Christmas break, she polled them on what things they loved in the classroom and what things they wanted to change.
“They said they didn’t need to do homework on the weekend and I agreed with them,” Nugent said.
“They do lots of hard work all week long, so I went with their suggestion.”
They also asked for more writing, which is Nugent’s favorite subject. Students write every day in all subjects.
Examples of the latest writing assignment fill the bulletin board outside her room. The goal was to write an informational piece. Animals were a popular theme with essays on chinchillas, bearded dragons, leopard geckos and Weimaraners.
One student wrote about ancient Egyptians with their more than 1,000 gods and added parenthetically (Man, that’s a lot of worship.).
“Writing is my favorite thing to teach because, by the end of the year, you can really see their growth,” Nugent said.
Determined to be a teacher since a young age, Nugent loves her job. She describes herself as energetic and structured. But even for the interview for this article, she asked her students to describe her.
Easy-going, friendly and kind, they said. “And I make them feel good about themselves,” Nugent added.
How good? The kind of kids who deserve a hug every day before class.
NOMINATIONS: Asbury University’s School of Education, which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees for young adults and working professionals in Kentucky and around the world, is pleased to honor world-class educators throughout Kentucky. If you would like to nominate an educator, contact Asbury University’s School of Education at AUSOE@asbury.edu.