A passion for children receiving a good education drives Shelby Davis to be a teacher who helps her students succeed academically and behaviorally. No matter what they choose to do after they leave school, Davis wants her students to know she’s always in their corner.
Before becoming a special education teacher running the behavior support program at Willowcreek Middle School, Davis worked as a behavioral health worker at a residential facility for children. She was driven to make the switch to education by a desire to help children learn coping strategies rather than simply minimizing behaviors.
“My job is to help these kids understand we all have these big emotions,” Davis said. “I help them find a way to use those emotions constructively and not be destructive. I help them understand how the emotions affect bodies, like the physical sensations of anger and happiness. We work on identifying those in our body and then work on finding coping skills that work.”
Davis discovered Willowcreek through a friend who ran the program at the time. She applied to assist the school and obtained her substitute teaching license. After her friend left a couple of years later, Davis saw her opportunity to step into his position. She believed she was ready and so did the school, giving her the position with the hope she would get her teaching license.
Despite making the hour-long commute from La Crosse everyday, Davis loves Willowcreek and the children. The supportive, collaborative environment at the school has encouraged her growth and training. How the children are accepted and learn outside of the program are important to Davis. “What I like the most about Willowcreek is we are inclusion driven, so a lot of our students are in general education classrooms most of the day,” Davis said. “I think that inclusion helps the special education students. They get to see other kids model behavior and model different learning skills. If they see another kid in their classroom get angry and then take a deep breath, they’re like, ‘Oh, they can do it too.’”
According to Davis, the program was in need of some improvement following the COVID-19 pandemic. Davis has since worked with administration to build the potential she first saw for the program. She focuses on altering it to cater towards the students more than the adults, making it reliable and effective for the children so they continue to grow.
Some students come into the program not trusting teachers because they’ve had teachers who don’t support them. Davis wants to be the teacher who changes this perspective by understanding the students as individuals with different needs.
“Getting to know the kids is the most important thing,” Davis said. “I get to know them and figure out what they like. For the students I get in sixth grade, I usually have all the way up until they're done with eighth grade. We get three years to figure out what helps these kids, what drives these kids, and then I cater to that. My goal is to get them to be in class as much as possible and not have big behaviors within the classroom.”
Davis builds trust and relationships with her students by focusing on their interests. Last year she played basketball during advisory time with a hyperactive student if he made it through all of his classes each day. Davis makes bracelets with a student this year to calm her down and exercise coping strategies. Another student this year teaches her how to draw when he gets stressed.
Kathy Pearson, Davis’ third-grade teacher, influenced her career choice and teaching style. Pearson had a hands-on teaching method and a caring nature that showed Davis teachers can love teaching and their students. She may not be incubating chicken eggs with her students, but she does show them learning can be meaningful and rewarding.
Davis is dedicated to helping her students succeed and connecting with them, imploring others in the community to be present, care and listen. She wants to see every student that comes into the program graduate, do great things and realize she loves them.
“They are professionals in training,” Davis said. “Portage has a lot of good things going for them right now. If we can help develop the youth and help the youth see there are good things here, then they'll stay and they'll continue to do good things here. If they choose not to stay, they're probably going to do even better things somewhere else.”