Adaptability a key for Richland 2’s top teacher

Adapting to change is a quality Linda Whitcomb has come to embrace in her 19 years in the classroom.

It is, in her mind, a major ingredient for the makings of a great teacher.

“Even though a teacher may have tremendous content knowledge and a wide array of other fantastic qualities, if he or she does not constantly adjust, adapt, change, and update, success is not achieved,” Whitcomb said.

That philosophy has paid big dividends for the Muller Road Middle School Spanish and World Cultures teacher who has been named the Richland 2 Teacher of the Year.

Muller Road graphic design teacher John Walker described Whitcomb as a mentor, explaining how he had observed her interactions with her students during his first year of teaching.

“I was in a room directly across the hall from her,” Walker said. “I noticed right away that she had amazing relationships with her students. Every day, they would anxiously await outside her classroom, excited to see what they were going to be working on next.

“I owe the fact that I am still teaching to her guidance and leadership,” he said.

Whitcomb was selected from 31 individual school winners across the district. She and four other finalists were observed in their classrooms and interviewed by a selection committee of parents, students, community members and former teachers of the year.

The formal announcement was made during the district’s Teacher of the Year Celebration Gala earlier this month.

Whitcomb points to technology as one of the more fluid aspects of education but notes that other areas of teaching also have required updates.

“The latest research in language acquisition and best-teaching practices also have to be incorporated,” she explained. “In the last 19 years, I have taught using a learning-centers approach, sometimes with textbooks to blend with the rest of a department and other times using only a curriculum I designed from a beginner level through Advanced Placement.”

It’s an approach that has won her the praise of her supervisors and peers.

“As our Spanish and World Cultures teacher, she provides students an opportunity to view the world from a global perspective,” said Muller Road principal, Lori Marrero.

“Her classroom is a warm and inviting learning environment, and she carefully plans activities that actively engage all students. She is the model of an effective teacher who is enthusiastic about the teaching profession, and she embodies the true characteristics of an exemplary, dedicated educator.”

Whitcomb has spent the past three years of her teaching career in Richland 2. She earned a bachelor of arts from Furman University and a master of arts in teaching from Winthrop University. She is a National Board Certified Teacher.

“My goal is to use all my own experiences, previous and ongoing, to relate the wonders of this world to all my students, creating not only culturally tolerant, but inquisitive and inspired young adults,” she said.

Whitcomb now advances to the statewide Teacher of the Year competition.