“My students right now are trying to teach me how to navigate Fortnite, because I told them I just started, and I don’t know where the best place to drop is,” teacher Eugenia Floyd said.
Growing up in Chapel Hill, Floyd did not expect her future self to be discussing Fortnite landing strategies with a nine-year-old.
While she had enjoyed making little Jonah-and-the-whale cutouts with preschoolers at her church in high school, she didn’t expect to become a teacher. In college, she developed vague plans of giving museum tours, but when she discovered she needed healthcare after she graduated, she obtained a teacher assistant position at Morris Grove Elementary eight years ago.
Floyd fell in love with teaching, a passion that has led her to teaching fourth grade literacy at Scroggs Elementary School. It’s also the path that led her to win the title of the 2021 North Carolina Teacher of the Year.
Floyd, who graduated from East in 2005, said she felt “complete shock” when she received the award April 9 at a ceremony in Cary, selected from a field of nine finalists from around the state.
“When they said my name, I had an ‘Are you for real?’ moment, and I kind of walked very slowly, you know, thinking maybe [they] made a mistake and said the wrong name,” Floyd said. “It was definitely a shock. But in the end, as I’ve been processing in the last couple days, it’s definitely an honor. I’m truly honored to be amongst some of the most wonderful teachers that I’ve ever met.”
Floyd’s approach as a teacher emphasizes equity in the classroom and addressing the achievement gap. She says a key element of her approach is having high expectations of all students, rather than imposing any limits on their capacity to learn.
“Often, people can put you in a box of what’s expected of you, by what you look like, where you’re from and who you’re hanging out with,” Floyd said. “I’m a true believer, too, that if we give [students] the tools to meet the expectations, they’ll meet us there every time.”
Creating authentic connections with her students is also a priority for Floyd, whether that means strategizing video games, talking about their personal lives outside of school or just finding common ground with the kids.
“It’s important that they also know that I’m a human being. It’s so funny how sometimes younger students think you live [at school]. No, I don’t live here. I have a home too and I have feelings too, and I have bad days too.”
In class, Floyd tries to make sure the material is engaging, and often humorous, for her students.
“I’ve definitely put my love for Bruno Mars in word problems when I taught math. The kids laugh the entire time,” Floyd said. “You know, ‘Ms. Floyd is 10 times more unlikely to meet or see Bruno as…’ Sometimes it comes at my expense, but that’s okay.”
The community-building process is a crucial step toward student success that Floyd says she hopes all teachers in the state can strive to achieve.
“I’m not saying that they have to go join Fortnite, but I am saying that trying to find those common grounds where both the teacher and the student have the shared experience of something, is always going to be beneficial to students,” Floyd said.
Floyd says that when her classes heard the news of her achievement, many students were “ecstatic” and excited about her future.
“It’s so great to get emails from your students, both present and past that say, ‘I’m proud of you, Ms. Floyd,’ and that was like the icing on the cake,” Floyd said. “They had lots and lots of questions about what’s to come.”
What is to come for Floyd is a year of speaking tours around the state, a trip to the National Teacher of the Year conference, and a new laptop, among many other honors. Afterwards, she says she hopes to return to Scroggs and continue teaching.
“I definitely feel like [teaching] is what I was sent here to do,” Floyd said. “I’m hoping that throughout this year, not only am I advocating for students and teachers, but I also want to grow my craft a little bit and learn some new things that I can incorporate in my classroom. I’m really excited about all that.”
Photo courtesy of CHCCS
