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Taniece Thompson-Smith was recently named the 2024 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year, but it is more than this achievement that makes her an

inspiration to her students and educators everywhere.

Located in the heart of Abilene, Stafford

Elementary is home to a group of remarkable teachers, and Taniece Thompson-Smith is no exception. Now teaching fifth-grade science, she has classroom experience in more than seven school districts across the world, and, as the 2024 Texas Elementary Teacher of

the Year, she represented Texas in the National Teacher of the Year competition. The Texas Teacher of the Year program is facilitated by the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA).

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"Inspiration came early to Taniece Thompson-Smith - and inspiration is changing the future of students at Stafford Elementary School in Abilene ISD. Thompson-Smith was chosen as the 2024 Texas Teacher of the Year by the Texas Association of School Administrators, after also being named the Elementary Teacher of the Year for Abilene ISD and Region 14. "

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"Veteran educator wins honor as top teacher in her adopted home. 

This school year is off to a great start for TSTA member Taniece Thompson-Smith, a fifth grade teacher in Abilene ISD, and a member of Education Abilene. Barely three years after she first arrived in Texas, her skills and hard work have earned her the 2024 Texas Teacher of the Year Title. And perhaps equally important to her, after 18 years as a traveling Air Force Spouse and itinerant educator, she can finally put down some roots, both personally and professionally."

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"Taniece Thompson-Smith is a fifth-grade science teacher at Abilene ISD’s Stafford Elementary, where she has taught the past two years of her 14-year career in education. Due to her travels as an 18-year military spouse, Thompson-Smith has taught in more than seven school districts across the U.S., Jamaica, and Japan. She consistently collaborates with community members and experts in the science field to design science-based experiential learning opportunities. Thompson-Smith says she believes “each encounter with children must be transformational and awake a sense of curiosity or thirst for knowledge that only education can quench.” She leads district-level professional development workshops, which includes analyzing testing data and integrating science with reading language arts. In addition to being named the Region 14 Elementary Teacher of the Year for 2023, Thompson-Smith was the Abilene ISD Teacher of the Year and her campus teacher of the year in 2022. In April 2023, she partnered with Future College Curls as a mentor speaker for 75 middle school and high school girls, and in May 2023, she presented at the Clay Minerals Society International Organization’s Annual Meeting. Thompson-Smith holds a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College in New York and graduate-level teacher certification from Rider University in New Jersey as well as a master’s degree from California State University in Fresno."

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"The Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) announced the three finalists for Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year, and one of the Abilene ISD’s best is vying to become the 2024 honoree.

Stafford Elementary School teacher Taniece Thompson-Smith – honored last year as the Abilene ISD Elementary Teacher of the Year and announced as the Region XIV Elementary Teacher of the Year last month – is joined on the finalist list by Dr. Isela Russell of the Lewisville ISD and Genesis Yougas of the McKinney ISD."

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"The Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) announced the three finalists for Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year, and one of the Abilene ISD’s best is vying to become the 2024 honoree.

Stafford Elementary School teacher Taniece Thompson-Smith – honored last year as the Abilene ISD Elementary Teacher of the Year and announced as the Region XIV Elementary Teacher of the Year last month – is joined on the finalist list by Dr. Isela Russell of the Lewisville ISD and Genesis Yougas of the McKinney ISD."

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"Stafford Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Taniece Thompson-Smith and Cooper High School photography teacher Sherry Griffith were honored April 26 as the Edwin and Agnes Jennings Teaching Excellence Award recipients and Abilene ISD Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year.

The Abilene Education Foundation hosted its 11th annual Teacher in the Limelight Celebration at the Abilene Convention Center, recognizing teachers throughout the district for their work with the more than 15,500 students in AISD.

Smith is in her second year in AISD but is a veteran of 14 years in education in seven schools across seven school districts throughout the United States and Japan. Her husband is an officer at Dyess Air Force Base, but Smith has found a home at Stafford, where she teaches science and social studies."

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"More than 20 years ago when NFL quarterback Tom Brady was just a rookie sixth-round draft pick of the New England Patriots, he met team owner Robert Kraft in the team’s old stadium and introduced himself by saying, “Hi, I’m Tom Brady.”Then, Kraft recalled, Brady looked the owner in the eye and said, “And I’m the best decision this organization has ever made.”Brady made good on that bold statement by leading the Patriots to nine Super Bowls – winning six – between 2001 and 2018. He’s universally acclaimed as the greatest quarterback, and perhaps the greatest player, in football history.

Stafford Elementary School teacher Taniece Smith has a similar tale, although she probably won’t be winning any Super Bowls or MVP trophies anytime soon. Smith just wrapped up her first year as a fifth-grade science and social studies teacher at the Abilene ISD’s model teaching school, a campus re-named and re-purposed using the model of the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta.

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"Taniece Thompson-Smith has made no secret of her feelings about how unique Stafford Elementary School is within the Abilene ISD. As of earlier this school year, her only regret was that she would probably have to leave it sometime soon.

As the spouse of an officer in the United States Air Force, Smith – who teaches fifth-grade science at Stafford – and her family have moved all over the country and taught in New York, New Jersey, California, Japan, and Texas. The native of Jamaica had become entirely accustomed to being around a group of students for two or three years and then picking up and moving.

But this trip through the AISD has been different for her. She began to think earlier this school year that she had found a home. She began to believe she had found a place where she needed the students as much as they needed her. She began to feel a kinship with the teachers and staff on campus that she hadn’t felt in her other stops."

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""She blinded me with science."

- Thomas Dolby

What's to like best about Taniece Thompson-Smith?

Is it her funky lab coat, the envy of Thomas Dolby, that she wears to teach science at Stafford Elementary School?

Is it her enthusiasm for education?

Is it her durablility - an Air Force wife who moved every time she got settled?

Is it her light Jamaican accent that shows up now and then in conversation?

If this were a multiple choice test, the correct answer would be "all of the above."

Thompson-Smith recently was named Abilene ISD's Elementary Teacher of the Year. That is a stunning accomplishment, considering that she is completing just her second year in the district. She arrived at Stafford, she proudly notes, when the name of Lee Elementary in northwest Abilene was changed to honor two longtime Black educators before integration."

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