Congratulations Jody  Yates, the 2017 VirtualSC Teacher of the Year!

We are pleased to announce Jody Yates as the 2017 VirtualSC Teacher of the Year.  Jody currently serves as a social studies teacher who holds professional endorsements in Online Teaching, AP United States History and AP Human Geography.  

Jody spent the first sixteen of her twenty-six years in education as a teacher at Emerald High School in Greenwood, SC and has spent the past ten years lending her many talents to VirtualSC.  During her tenure with the program, she has played an instrumental role in developing and revising social studies courses and, most recently, serving as lead teacher for the Social Studies Team.  Jody has also made contributions in the area of professional development, participating in a group presentation of Lessons Learned One Year Out on the use of Moodle as a learning management system at the iNACOL Conference held in Phoenix, Arizona in 2010.  In recent years, Jody has been an active part of VirtualSC’s professional learning community, presenting at in-house professional development sessions.  

Jody is an active member of the South Carolina Council for the Social Studies and the South Carolina Social Studies Supervisors Association. She also recently served on the SC Standards Committee, working alongside fellow social studies teachers from across the state to rewrite the American Government standards. Additionally, this past summer, Jody was selected as one of only 25 teachers from across the nation to attend the American Representative Government: Jamestowne to the 21st Century workshop in Jamestowne, Virginia.

Jody sees her biggest strengths as her love of teaching and her compassion for students. She sees herself as a caring and compassionate teacher who is always willing to go above and beyond what is required to work with students.  Her overall goal is to see her students succeed and graduate, even if it means giving them the benefit of the doubt in many cases.

According to Jody, every student deserves a chance to succeed regardless of race, religion or socio-economic background. Teaching online allows a level of anonymity that removes many of barriers students face in the brick and mortar classroom.  Every student learns differently and every student faces a different set of challenges.  Recognizing those challenges and encouraging success despite those challenges teaches kids to be compassionate, strong, and independent learners.

Jody currently resides in Greenwood, SC with her husband, Kyle, of 24 years and her two children, Logan and Kyla. She is a self-proclaimed teacher who loves to share her love of education and technology tools with other teachers in all content areas. Jody spends her personal time camping and fostering animals for the local Humane Society, as well as riding bikes with her husband and friends.