Teacher of the Year

My name is Troy Jacobs Herlihy. I was born in Columbia in 1968. I have a BA in history from the College of Charleston and a MAT in Social Studies from the Citadel. I married Dan Herlihy in 1997 and we have two wonderful sons, Kent and Jacob. In 1997 I started teaching Social Studies at Wilson High School. In 2004, I received my National Board Certification.

My personal feeling and beliefs about teaching is that I am doing a job that I love and enjoy. To see my students evolve as young people and grow into amazing adults is very rewarding. I teach the ninth grade IB history course and the twelve grade IB history course. This allows me to watch them grow and develop during their high school career.

The most important aspect of my teaching philosophy is that I teach the whole child. I work closely with parents to make sure my students perform at their highest ability. I maintain a web page that allows parents to stay informed about upcoming assignments, tests, and projects. I notify parents of positive and negative performances in class. As soon as a student misses an assignment I contact their parent. I do not want a child to get behind in their work. I want them to complete their work and I find out if there are any problems that would interfere with their school work. I want to know what is going on in the lives of my students so that I can help them to be successful students. I also work closely with the other grade level teachers. We monitor the work load of our students to keep them from being overwhelmed. Staying in contact with the teachers of my students allows me to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of each of my students. It is very important to me to teach in a variety of methods to reach the learning styles of all my students. For example, if one of my students is having a difficult time writing essays, then I work with their English teacher to develop tools to better assist that student in their writing.