Congratulations to Mrs. Cymbre White Cooke, our 2020 Teacher of the Year.
Mrs. Cooke is in her 6th year of teaching; she has taught kindergarten and is currently a first grade teacher. Mrs. Cooke is very active in our school; she is grade level chair for her First Grade team and the School Improvement Team Representative as well. She is the chair of the PAWS Committee and serves on the Climate and Culture Committee. When asked what makes her unique as a teacher, Mrs. Cooke said she has a heart for kids. She aims to teach the whole child, helping meet their core needs and foster social and emotional learning along with academics. She wants her students to be good people overall. She sets a standard in her classroom that expects students to use their manners such as apologizing when they make mistakes in order to help them become good citizens. Mrs. Cooke is a supporter of our ArtistCorp program from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts; she is known for integrating in her classroom and working with the ArtistCorp Integration Team. She has an active classroom Twitter account for posting photos of her activities and projects.
Mrs. Cooke attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to obtain her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education. She is originally from Trinity, North Carolina, which is the home of Duke University; in fact, her middle school campus was the original campus of Duke University, formerly known as Trinity College. Mrs. Cooke is married and has one cat, Clementine. She enjoys spending time with her husband, who plays electric bass in a band, and with her brother, sister, niece and nephew. Outside of teaching and spending time with her family, Mrs. Cooke enjoys watercolor painting, particularly painting pet portraits for friends, family and customers. She also creates wedding invitations.
Colleagues said: Mrs. Cooke is an asset to our school. She has excellent classroom management; her students love and respect her. She opens her day with yoga to set the tone for the class and help students wake up their brains. Her classroom is organized well with centers for learning during workshop time. Students love her reading tent, low table with pillows in the technology center, and other alternative seating areas. Mrs. Cooke is also known for her Math Olympic Unit.
Congratulations Mrs. Cymbre White Cooke for being selected as the 2020 Teacher of the Year for Diggs-Latham Elementary A+ Magnet School for Arts Integration and Performance.
