Davidson GBES’ Teacher of the Year
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Pat Davidson

Pat Davidson looked down and opened the small rectangular device attached to her hip and brewed a wide grin as she read its display screen.

While serving at Gulf Breeze Elementary School (GBES) as a P.E. teacher and Wellness Coordinator, Davidson developed a contest between teachers and faculty to raise their overall well-being. The wellness competition, loosely referred to as “The Pedometer Club,” challenges GBES staff members to keep track of all the steps they take over the course of a week.

Davidson and the school janitor are tied for first place with roughly 30,000 steps apiece.

It is that combination of going the extra mile and a love for teaching young children that earned Davidson the distinction of Teacher of the Year for GBES.

“She has a beautiful can-do attitude,” said Robert Trigg, Assistant Principal at GBES. “She has genuine concern for the individual children as well as the entire class. She’s the go-to person for extracurricular activities. We’re lucky to have her.”

In addition to the Pedometer Club, Davidson also coordinates the school’s running club, which has approximately 235 student members. The club recently won the award for most student participants in the 2006 Downtown Christmas Parade Dash held in Pensacola.

The running club also sponsors an annual elementary school run that includes students and teachers from surrounding Pensacola Bay Area schools.

Despite her success with running programs, Davidson said she likes to keep her students involved in a diverse collection of activities.

“I enjoy being with any child,” Davidson said. “I want them all to have success in all they are doing. We try to have a large number of activities so they can find something they enjoy.”

Before coming to Gulf Breeze nearly 16 years ago, Davidson taught high school physical education in Alabama and Georgia and has a total of 30 years of teaching experience.

“Teaching elementary school was such a huge change for me because I had no experience with elementary age children,” Davidson said.

The one time tennis coach said she credits her coinstructor, Jim Singleton with teaching her patience and other skills specific to dealing with young children.

Davidson was voted as teacher of the year at the school level by her coworkers. From there, the winning teachers from each school in Santa Rosa County will be narrowed down to a finalist for the entire school district. That worthy instructor will be among 177,000 teachers throughout Florida vying for the statewide title of teacher of the year.