Carver Middle School’s Teacher of the Year loves numbers, which is fitting, as she teaches seventh-grade math.
LaToya Daniels originally majored in accounting, but she decided to follow her heart to work with kids.
Daniels has been teaching for 16 years and has been at Carver for four. Her mother, who teaches in Emporia, was an inspiration to her, Daniels said.
She is an advocate for hands-on and discovery learning, and said her classroom is not just about worksheets and Chromebooks. She prefers that her students “touch and do” because she believes students learn best by doing.
“When the kids walk out the classroom, and say, ‘Miss Daniels, I actually like math,’” compared to when they first started, that makes her feel warm inside.
Daniels is also the girls track and basketball coach and is the athletic director at Carver Middle.
This is been Daniels’ third year coaching at Carver, and she said she took the girls’ basketball team from winning no games to finishing runner-up in the county last year. Daniels said she loves coaching.
“People tell me, ‘You put people on your team because you just love them, not [because]they’re actually ball players,’” Daniels said. “And so to see the transition after working with them, getting better [at]the game and things we’ve worked on … it just excites me.”
Daniels’ goal is to be a math specialist, and her mentors have been pushing her to do it, but she has been waiting because she loves being in the classroom and teaching.
“My mom always says to me, ‘You know when,’ and I feel like I know when, and I think it’s very soon that I’m gonna start looking to pursue a specialist position in mathematics,” Daniels said.
She would eventually like to step back from coaching so she can focus on her daughter, who plays softball and will be playing basketball this year.
“I put a lot of time into a lot of kids, but I’m ready to watch mine now,” Daniels said.
Daniels has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Virginia Union University, a master’s from Grand Canyon University in secondary education, and a master’s from Virginia State University as a math specialist. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in administration.
