Henrico's Top Teachers – Emily Lancaster, Ward ES

Emily Lancaster, a second-grade teacher at Ward Elementary School, has a special ability to connect with her students.

“I have known since I can remember that I wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “I had family members that were teachers and I always loved school.”

Building relationships with students and families is one of the most valuable parts of teaching, Lancaster said. Her first year of teaching was cut short by the pandemic, but that didn’t stop her from connecting with students.

“By staying online during recess and lunch and communicating with parents regularly, I made sure students and families knew that even though it was through a screen, I was still there for them,” she said. “We played games, I facilitated lunch bunch between students, and we made learning accessible as much as possible during a virtual year.”

This was Lancaster’s first year teaching second grade. Before that she taught first grade, meaning that she’s taught the same students for the past two years. This gave her a unique opportunity to develop deep and meaningful relationships with students.

“When I reflect on this school year, I get emotional about all of my students,” she said. “Whether it’s their academic gains or the fact that they can play together successfully now. This group of kids will be in my heart forever, if anything, just because of their perseverance and tenacity throughout the last couple of years.”

Her nominator, whose son was in Lancaster’s second- grade class this year, appreciated the individualized attention the students were given. Lancaster’s ability to connect one on one with students and provide personalized feedback was invaluable for students like her son adjusting to in-person learning, her nominator wrote.

“She learned his interests and, to keep him interested, incorporated those things in learning as well as the weekly feedback sheets! He loved it.”

Making lessons relatable to students is a really important way to engage with them, Lancaster said, recalling some particular moments from the past school year.

“When they were showing disinterest in non-fiction books, we flipped it around and wrote our own,” she said. “When they thought social studies was boring, we related economics to things that we noticed around the school. We still reference scarcity when the cafeteria runs out of corn dogs!”

Lancaster’s approach to learning celebrates individuality and instills confidence in her students, which she believes is critical to their academic and personal success.

“Another thing that I learned this year is that when the students believe that they can learn, they will learn,” she said. “I try to instill a growth mindset in my students and I teach them to be proud of themselves.”

In addition to appreciating big-picture elements of teaching like helping her students to discover and develop their strengths, Lancaster loves the little moments, she said.

“Like when everyone is laughing at an impromptu funny moment or we are all celebrating someone in our classroom community,” she said. “Being able to provide a safe and loving environment for my students, where that safety and love comes from everyone in the classroom, are some of the best parts of my job.”

Next year, Lancaster will be starting a new journey at Skipwith Elementary School, but said she is grateful for all the amazing moments, big and small, that she had with her students at Ward.