Above and beyond: One of these four finalists will be Miami’s teacher of the year

They teach science, reading, English as a second language and social studies, just to name a few.

They’ve launched clubs at their students’ request. They coach after-school sports. They connect with their students by sharing their own lived experiences — experiences that often mirror those of their students.

Combined, the four finalists for Miami-Dade’s teacher of the year have nearly 90 years of experience. But on Tuesday, just one will be named the 2024 Francisco R. Walker Teacher of the Year for Miami-Dade Public Schools.

The annual celebration, which recognizes educators who go above and beyond in how they teach and push students to reach their goals, will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Miami Airport and Convention Center. Superintendent Jose Dotres is expected to attend.

The four regional winners have spent decades in the classroom. And though not all intended to be educators, each has developed a deep passion for their craft and unwavering loyalty to their students.

Here are their stories:

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION: MONIQUE BRYANT CLAYTON

As a young girl, Monique Bryant Clayton spent many hours in the back of her aunt’s classroom. Clayton loved watching her teach, how she conducted her class and reading to her students. But it wasn’t until sixth grade that she had her “aha moment” with a teacher, realizing the power educators held to impact a student positively or negatively.

“At that point, I knew I was going to be a teacher,” Clayton, 47, told the Herald. “In that moment, I knew without a shadow of a doubt I wanted to be able to pour into any vessel that walked into my classroom.” (Up until that point, she’d wanted to be a lawyer.)

Those feelings were reinforced in 12th grade. In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, when parents could take their kids to work while schools were still closed, she was tasked to “keep the kids busy” at her mother’s office. So, she brainstormed games and designed activities. “It fueled the fire to go into education,” she said.

She’s been an educator for 27 years — 22 in Miami-Dade, working at Henry E.S. Reeves K-8 Center and Charles R. Drew K-8 Center, both in northwest Miami-Dade.

In 2016, however, the Miami native returned to the school her mother once attended: C.O.P.E. Center North, a West Little River school that provides mothers the ability to obtain their diploma while also offering daycare services for their child on campus at no cost.

“My mom was 16 when she had me [and] she attended C.O.P.E.,” she said. “I am that C.O.P.E. Center North baby.” And as a young mother herself — Clayton had her first daughter at 19 — she knew there was “something I had that I could share with the young ladies through personal experience.”

In her seven years at the school, Clayton has worked to fulfill the promise she made as a sixth-grader to pour into her students: empowering them, strengthening them, encouraging them.

Clayton teaches leadership skills, photography, Spanish and film production, among other subjects. She serves as the school assessment coordinator, working to boost student engagement and their academics. She works with student services to identify learning and graduation goals. And yet, as a teacher leader who “wears many hats,” she works closely to impact her students’ destiny.

“Sometimes the ladies will say, ‘This is hard.’ And I can say, ‘Listen, I know what it is to not only have to work, but to also go to school because there is no other option,’ ” she said. Sharing with her students in a non-judgmental environment has enabled Clayton to support them “so they can see their possibilities are endless, even if mistakes are made.”

CENTRAL REGION: DON CLERVEAUX

Don Clerveaux wanted to be a physical therapist when he grew up.

In high school, he ruptured his knee and was amazed by the care he received during his recovery. Plus, his mother was a nurse and he’d already looked through her anatomy books.

But in 2013, he wound up in the classroom as a science teacher at Orchard Villa Elementary School in Model City after realizing there “were no P.E. [physical education] openings at public schools.”

The subject made sense: Clerveaux, 45, had a bit of knowledge about health, biology, anatomy and physiology, but perhaps more importantly, he was always interested in science. (Previously, he worked as a physical education teacher and a coach at private schools in Miami for about a decade.)

Today, he teaches fifth-grade science and social studies at Phyllis Ruth Miller Elementary School near Miami Shores. At Hialeah Gardens High School, he coaches football, track and field and strength and conditioning.

In the classroom and on the field, Clerveaux, a Miami native, approaches his role as an educator with love and understanding. As a man of color standing at 6’ 1”, it’s easy for people to be intimidated, he said. So he strives to approach students “as if I’m the older brother. I want them to understand that whatever they’re going through, it’ll be all right.”

As a young person living with ADHD, he often struggled in the classroom. Teachers called him names or others would call him slow. Now, as a teacher, he uses that to understand how his students learn and what may be the best approach.

“There were a few teachers that really inspired me and I felt like they had my back,” he said. “I try to be that teacher now, the guy [students] can talk to.” One of the greatest rewards of teaching is when students return years later to thank him for his encouragement, support and belief in them.

Clerveaux also has helped colleagues implement new technologies to facilitate learning for students. During the pandemic, he helped install QR codes that made contactless lesson plans and data trackers available to administrators. His lessons learned with Schoology, a K-12 learning management system, have been used across the district for professional development.

For Clerveaux, becoming a teacher “wasn’t plan A,” he said. “But I’m so glad it turned out the way it did, because what a passion it is for me now.”

NORTH REGION: VANESSA RADICE

Vanessa Radice struggled to learn as a young student. She felt like she had to work harder, practice more, spend more time on areas her classmates understood from the start.

But when she finally solved whatever problem or lessons she was tackling, it was a “natural high.” Immediately, she felt compelled to share that joy — that excitement — with other students. After that, other students began turning to her when they were stumped.

“To have them say, ‘I got it, thank you so much,’ was all I needed,” said Radice, 40. “Education was always in me.”

Once in college, where she studied education, a professor encouraged Radice to work with students living with special needs or disabilities and fell in love with that area of education. She earned her bachelor’s degree in exceptional student education and years later, earned two master’s degrees — one in mental health counseling, the other, in special education.

At Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School, where she’s been since 2005, Radice teaches ninth-, 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade students algebra, liberal arts and physical education. Students are on the autism spectrum or have other developmental disabilities. She also teaches courses on “Unique skills” and “Self determination.”

No matter what grade level or ability of her students, though, she strives to expose them to things or experiences they may not have had before — whether that involves tasting food from a different cuisine or visiting the beach for the first time.

(Radice was born in Queens, New York, but moved to Miami when she was 2 and grew up two blocks away from Hialeah-Miami Lakes. “I was always meant to be a Trojan,” she said.)

Her teaching style — and how her approach has changed over the years — is the result of working as a co-teacher, she said. Teachers, who are often too busy to step away from their to-do list, are rarely able to observe their peers, but the ability to do so, and later receive feedback, has pushed her to try to fix habits, try new approaches or change how she taught a certain subject.

That’s where the “popsicle stick” idea came from. Radice noticed she’d only been calling on the same few students, so, to avoid doing so, and encouraging classroom engagement, she wrote their names on sticks and let her students pick who had to answer the next question.

For Radice, though, one of her favorite ideas was the rock garden, which included 30 river rocks. Her students, many who are non-verbal or unable to write, painted the stones. Students from the other classes wrote something positive on the rock before giving it back for glazing.

Since then, she’s applied for grants to bring additional projects to the school, like an edible garden where students have harvested the vegetables. More recently, she was awarded a grant for a sensory and life skills room, which simulates a “mini apartment” for students to practice daily activities while adhering to their sensory needs.

“My thing is all about inclusion,” she said. “It’s about social emotional learning. It’s about creating awareness.”

SOUTH REGION: KHRISTAL GOODING

In every class she teaches and every lesson she leads, Khristal Gooding asks herself: How is the topic relevant to a student’s life?

It’s why she often allows, even encourages, tangents during class so students can talk about real-life issues. And when asked why or what they like about Gooding’s class, they often point to those discussions — “We keep it real,” they say.

“I really try to make history fun and I try to connect it to what they are going through at the moment,” the Miami native said. Just before the winter break, Gooding, 42, used the Taylor Swift concert debacle — in which Ticketmaster canceled planned ticket sales after its website was overwhelmed — to help students understand the Federal Trade Commission.

“It’s about making connections with students, meeting them where they are and bringing that historical context to everything,” she said. “That’s what they love most [about my class]. I bring things full circle for them.”

Both of Gooding’s parents were veteran teachers in Miami-Dade. Her father, Edward, was a band director at Miami Northwestern, Miami Coral Park and Mays Middle; her mother, Rosiland, who passed away from COVID-19 in December 2020, was a reading coach and English department chair at Miami Coral Park.

Yet Gooding didn’t plan on becoming a teacher. Instead, the Miami native studied journalism at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. But in 2005, after returning to Miami, she became a history teacher at Robert Morgan Educational Center in southwest Miami-Dade, where’s she’s been since.

Still, Gooding often leans on her journalism degree while in the classroom: She recently launched a journalism club at the request of her students. And outside of class, she is a motivational speaker for young girls and authored a book that encourages middle-school-aged girls to talk about their emotions and feelings, and help them transition to high school.

In the nearly 20 years since she began her career in the district, she’s had to evolve as a leader and as a teacher. (“If you’ve been teaching for 20 years and have been teaching the way you always did, you’ve done a disservice to your students,” she said.)

She’s infused more technology and hands-on activities to engage students and — once again — show the relevance of what they’re studying and how it impacts their real life. As the social studies department chair, she oversees teacher collaborations, lesson planning and data analytics, as well as goal setting and the implementation of district policies. She’s also a mentor to other teachers.

Teaching, she said, was supposed to be temporary. Instead, it’s turned into a passion.

How to watch the Teacher of the Year ceremony

The 2024 Francisco R. Walker Miami-Dade County Teacher of the Year ceremony will start at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Miami Airport & Convention Center. To watch the event over livestream, click here