Beaufort High School
Beaufort, South Carolina
Years in current position: 5
Total years as a classroom teacher: 28

Career Highlights

• Leslie Revis has made her classes at Beaufort High School an asset to
  the community by offering the Beaufort High School Community Outreach
  Translating Service, which has become a valuable outreach for the
  surrounding area and a great learning experience for the students. This
  program has been honored with citations and news articles, and is used
  as a model by other high schools.

• She developed an alternative and innovative competency-based
  curriculum in foreign language for the Peace Corps language programs in
  Belize, Jamaica, and Guatemala.

• Revis says she meets her students with L.O.V.E. That is, she
  explains, she must “listen to their immediate needs (bathroom, nurse,
  etc.), observe their mood and energy as they enter my class, value their
  presence by genuinely exchanging greetings, and enjoy that they have
  come to my class today.” She describes her classroom management as
  H.E.A.R.T. “As my students and I journey through a unit, we use humor to
  get us through the ‘but I sound so funny’ language moments, while not
  compromising excellence. Personal excellence flourishes in a room of
  acceptance. I teach my students that responsible acceptance means
  working with both our gifts and limitations to understand how to
  achieve. My students must know at all times that we are in this
  together!”

• S.O.U.L. is the final component of her teaching philosophy. “My
  students and their parents can count on my support. Every year I place
  450 phone calls or more to students and parents. These connections are
  intended to outline my program and its goals. Communication, either by
  phone or during a conference, serves to uplift and support parent and
  student’s needs. By thoughtfully exchanging ideas, educational needs,
  implementation of techniques, and professional resources, a teacher
  becomes a powerful and valued link, insuring the grounds for Love,
  Heart, and Soul to take root in support of a student’s success.”

• Revis has a “Homework Hotline” Monday through Sunday until 11 p.m.

• When five Spanish classes at Beaufort High were left to finish the
  year under a long-term substitute, Revis added those five classes to her
  normal workload of six. She did so did so without additional pay and
  while six months pregnant.

  “She makes learning real for her students. They know that what they
  do in the classroom is important because it reaches beyond the
  classroom.” — Inez Tenenbaum, State Superintendent of Education

  “In my 30 years in the business of education, I can truly think of no
  one who would be a more articulate, authentic, and gracious
  representative of the teaching profession. If I could rub Aladdin’s
  lamp, one of my three wishes would be to turn back the years and give
  myself the gift of being a foreign language student in Leslie Revis’
  classroom.” — Calvin White, Sr., principal, Beaufort High School

  “Many teachers offer extra time and attention to some students, but
  with Leslie everything she does seems to help not only individual
  students but classes, the school, and the community, all at the same
  time.” — Elizabeth Chase, communications specialist, Beaufort High, and
  parent of former student

  “While breaking down local barriers and expanding opportunities for
  learning by her students in the real world, Leslie Revis has also been
  the epitome of the conscientious classroom teacher. She regularly calls
  parents to tell them about their child’s progress and to give
  encouragement. More than once I have seen my own daughter helped through
  a rough time by this simple expression of concern and caring from a
  respected teacher.” — Dr. Joseph Floyd, school board member and parent
  of a student

  “Every day a sense of power encompasses me when I walk into Spanish
  class. This is the power of knowledge. Not a minute is wasted, for we
  students are always seeking information and applying it to our lives.
  Mrs. Revis emphasizes that we will always be students, that we will
  always have the ability and the gift to learn something new every day.”
  — Rebecca Ann Daubert, Beaufort High student