GREENVILLE — Steven Wood, a dedicated and passionate third-grade teacher at Lincoln Heights, has spent the past 12 years shaping the lives of his students.
Wood emphasizes his commitment to building strong relationships and creating a safe and nurturing classroom environment. Wood makes extra efforts to ensure his students feel valued, comfortable and ready to learn.
Wood empowers his students to grow academically and emotionally through his morning meetings, personalized rewards system, and empathetic approach.
“My philosophy has always been to try my best right away to find a relationship with the student and find some common ground because until you build that relationship they’re not going to feel comfortable and they’re not going to learn,” he said.
By discovering shared interests or experiences, Wood breaks down barriers and paves the way for open communication and collaboration.
“That’s the first and foremost thing I’m trying to do from the beginning of the year and continue to foster that,” he said.
Lincoln Heights has a tradition of morning meetings, which are student and teacher check-ins.
“That’s really helped to foster the classroom culture to start us off on the right foot every day. We build on that, and I pride myself on being very observant,” he said.
Wood takes mental notes of things he wants to talk to students about later during these meetings, whether it’s a sports game, practice or other extracurricular activity.
He recently got married, so he couldn’t attend as many of his students’ activities as he would like, but he still made the effort to see his students outside the classroom environment.
“I ask their parents for that schedule so I can try to make them. This year was tough with the wedding planning but I did make a few games,” he said.
Colleagues and administrators describe Wood as a calm, empathetic, joyful and caring teacher.
“I never raise my voice, that helps with the kids’ comfort level, they can tell that I’m there for them, they can just feel that love and they feel safe,” he said.
Over 12 years of teaching, Wood has noticed more kids carry trauma into the classroom and he recognizes his important role in their lives.
“They just really need that safe adult in their life, especially as a male down in these lower elementary grades. I don’t take that lightly. I take that seriously,” he said.
Wood said some students were sad to leave his classroom once summer break rolled around.
“It’s really fun to see the transformation in them when they start to trust me, to see them open up and come out of their shell. It’s one of my favorite things for sure,” he said. “It just frees them up to be able to focus on their academics when they feel safe.”