- January 1, 2025
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Amanda Davenport-Schulz can’t remember her second-grade teacher’s name, but that teacher left such an impression on Schulz that she became a teacher herself — a second grade teacher.
“Growing up, we were a very transient family, every year having a new school or two to acclimate to. It always seemed harder to adjust, but in second grade, I had the most amazing teacher,” Schulz said. “… To this day I remember how she made me feel. I was special, we were all special. She was so magical and brought so much joy to my life. I was excited to go to school to see her, I was engaged in learning and did so well that year I was placed in a gifted class the next year. That feeling of second grade is the reason I teach.”
Schulz is Bunnell Elementary School’s Teacher of the Year. Each day she strives to make her second grade classroom as magical as the one she remembers when she was in second grade.
“Having Mrs. Schulz as one’s teacher is truly an experience,” BES Principal Cari E. Presley wrote in her recommendation letter to Flagler Schools’ Teacher of the Year Selection Committee. “She is more than just a fan favorite, she is a teacher that makes a significant life impact on students, and an individual that one will never forget. Every day, you will find Mrs. Schulz greeting her students with warmth and energy as they meet her in the morning. Her students find their teacher almost always in a fun, festive outfit that brings a little extra magic to her second grade classroom.”
Schulz’s outfits are part of her lessons. Some are so creative that her classroom may draw a crowd of observers.
They didn’t remember the visiting administrators or state staff, but they remembered the worms.
— AMANDA DAVENPORT-SCHULZ, BES Teacher of the Year
“I use myself as an activating strategy for what we are learning, through clothes, costumes and props. Even when my classroom is being observed, the focus should be on the students and keeping them engaged,” she said. “These small acts have students from the beginning of my teaching career still reaching out to discuss the time I dressed as soil layers. They didn’t remember the visiting administrators or state staff, but they remembered the worms.”
Presley said that while the classroom environment Schulz creates is impressive enough, her “instruction is exceedingly effective. Her teaching is standards aligned, rigorous and paced in a way that demonstrates her belief in what her students can do, despite their varying needs, levels and abilities. While many of the students at Bunnell Elementary come from poverty, homelessness and other exterior barriers, she knows her students can achieve great things. She believes in them, and they therefore believe in themselves.”
Although Schulz does not teach the “advanced” class, Presley wrote, “her students routinely demonstrate standard mastery at one of the highest rates.”
Schulz has been teaching for 10 years. She has been with Flagler Schools since 2016. She has taught second grade every year except for last year, when she taught first grade. But this year she was allowed to “loop” with the same class.
“This has been such an amazing experience watching them continue to learn new skills as they grow into soon to be third graders,” she said.
In her leisure time, Schulz enjoys reading, food events and exploring vintage/ antique shops with her husband “to see what weird treasure we can bring home to our collection.”
