(CEDAR HILL, TEXAS) Ashley Hibbitts has found a professional home at Plummer Elementary School.
“I love the people at Plummer,” Hibbitts said. “It’s a lot more fun when you come to school, and you’re friends with your co-workers, both inside and outside the classroom.”
Hibbitts is in her ninth year as an educator, including her eighth at Plummer, where she teaches Third Grade Reading and Social Studies.
Hibbitts, the 2023-2024 Plummer Teacher of the Year, commutes approximately one hour (total) from home each day. She could work closer to home and earn a higher salary.
“But I love my school,” she said. “Plummer has a culture of being family-oriented. The longer people stay here, the longer we try to keep that culture going.”
Hibbitts credits three former Plummer Teachers of The Year – Daija Beecham, Patricia Byrd, and Inass Barnes with her development as a teacher. Beecham still teaches at Plummer, while both Barnes and Byrd retired in recent years.
“It’s easy to model what you’ve been shown,” Hibbitts said. “It becomes a part of you. Barnes and Byrd had a great deal of longevity here, and Barnes is still one of my best friends. Byrd’s whole presence just demands excellence. When you see her, you say ‘I want a little bit of what she has’.”
If Hibbitts is named Cedar Hill ISD Elementary Teacher of the Year next month, it will be the second time a Plummer teacher will have won the honor in three years. Byrd won it in 2021-2022.
Hibbitts is an avid reader and enjoys introducing scholars to elementary-level literature.
“We’re reading ‘The Lemonade Wars’ as a class, and then the scholars want to read the other books in the series on their own,” Hibbitts said. “We’re able to get the scholars to read through fiction and stories. First, we have to build that love for reading.”
When it comes to Social Studies, Hibbitts teaches scholars using maps, charts, and diagrams for topics such as innovators, economic principles, landforms, and more.
“Crossing curriculum where it meshes together prepares the kids for the future,” Hibbitts said.
Hibbitts grew up in the small South Texas community of Bishop, and later, in Alvin — 31 miles south of Houston and best known as the hometown of Hall of Fame Pitcher Nolan Ryan. At Alvin High, Hibbitts graduated in the Top 10 percent of her senior class.
She chose Sam Houston State University for college and initially studied Nursing before making the change to Elementary Education.
“I felt like Education was where I was supposed to be, and I never looked back from it,” Hibbitts said.
