Dallas ISD celebrates teaching excellence by recognizing outstanding educators who are making a difference in the lives of students every day. Meet 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year finalist Will Hastings.
Will Hastings, math department chair at H Grady Spruce High School, discovered that he had no love for engineering – but a deep enjoyment in tutoring his peers in higher-level mathematics – while an undergraduate Electrical Engineering major at the University of North Texas.
Realizing his passion, Hastings joined the Teach North Texas Program, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, a minor in Education, and the goal of being one of the best teachers Texas has ever seen. Hastings spent four years teaching in Little Elm and Collinsville, honing his craft, before coming to Dallas ISD to put his skills to the test at H. Grady Spruce High School.
Though his first year was rough, it taught him a level of classroom management and parental outreach that he could have never received elsewhere. By year two, Hastings had developed a curriculum that addressed student learning gaps while progressing them forwards to mastery. In only his third year, Hastings was asked to move to the Lead Geometry position, where he doubled the department’s ACP passing averages in historic fashion. Soon after, he was recruited into Spruce’s Early College program, and has now achieved TEI and TIA Distinguished status, become the Head of the Math Department, and enrolled in graduate mathematics courses to become a dual credit teacher for Dallas ISD’s Collegiate Academies.
Will Hastings is one of the 2021-2022 Secondary Teacher of the Year finalists. From the finalists, one teacher will be selected from each category to represent Dallas ISD as Teacher of the Year. Winners will be announced at the inaugural 2021-2022 Dallas ISD Educator of the Year Awards, in partnership with the Dallas Education Foundation, presented by Reliant at the Statler Hotel on May 10, 2022.
View the full list of the 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year finalists here.
