Dacusville Middle School's 2014-2015 Teacher of the Year

  If I were to ask you who your favorite teacher was when you were in school, I am sure you would be able to answer fairly quickly.  What are some attributes that make these teachers stand out in our minds so vividly that we can recall their names decades later?  When I think of my favorite teacher, I think of someone who cared about me as a person, encouraged me to keep trying, and inspired me learn.  Great teachers have these qualities and more.

     Each year,  our local public schools choose one outstanding teacher who displays these characteristics to represent their school.  This year, I am honored to introduce you to Dacusville Middle School’s 2014-2015 Teacher of the Year, Toni Crowe Johnson.

Mrs. Johnson has deep roots in our community.  Mrs. Johnson was born and raised right here in Dacusville and attended Dacusville Elementary School.  She has fond memories of her teachers there.  Mrs. Nell Patton, her second grade teacher, inspired Toni’s love of learning.  She went on to Dacusville Junior High, as it was called then, and had the privilege of being taught by Mr. Bobby Joe Wilson, an English teacher who instilled a love of language and literature.  (Mr. Wilson’s daughter is now assistant principal at Dacusville Middle School.)  

Toni Crowe Johnson

Mrs. Johnson’s mother graduated from Dacusville High School, but its doors closed many years ago.  Therefore, Mrs. Johnson attended and graduated from Pickens High School.  After she was married and raised her children to school age, she went on to pursue her Associate of Arts in Education degree at Tri-County Technical College.  Then, she went on to Clemson University where she graduated with honors, receiving her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education and also the prestigious Phi Delta Kappa Honor Award. 

 Mrs. Johnson has taught for many years in both private and public schools in the Upstate.  In 2009, she graduated from Columbia College and  received her Masters of Art in Education while completing her Thesis on Divergent Learners.  In 2011, she was offered a position in her home town school, Dacusville Middle, to teach 8th grade Language Arts/Reading and 8th grade Honors English I.  She seized the opportunity to teach children at her Alma Mater and has been teaching at Dacusville Middle School for four years now. 

 She had previously received the Teacher of the Year award at Liberty Middle School, but she was humbled to be given the honor this year of Teacher of the Year at the school she herself attended as a student.  To make the occasion even more rewarding, she was also selected to be an Honor Roll Teacher for the School District of Pickens County for the 2014-2015 school year.  

The residents of Dacusville would like to extend our congratulations to Mrs. Johnson for her hard work and dedication to the students of our community.  It is Dacusville citizens like Mrs. Johnson that make us be able to boast, “We may be from the small town of Dacusville, but we have ‘BIG’ hearts and are proud to be good neighbors.”

Article by Tara Looper