Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1302808
What do you find most rewarding about your career? The students' success is the most rewarding aspect of my career. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a student years later, and they connect what they learned in my class with their current success. It makes me feel like a rock-star. When you talk about Macon to people who don't live here, what do you tell them? I would tell potential residents that Macon is a great place to work and live. It has a vibrant faith community along with a variety of living options to choose from. Finally, I would say that Macon and the greater community has positioned itself for continued economic growth. If you are looking for an opportunity to serve and to grow, I believe Macon has a lot to offer. What are some ways our community can support our students? After COVID-19, the best way the community can support our students is to be engaged in the business of the entire school district while attending local school events such as PTO meetings, band concerts and football games. Second, I would suggest offering your unique services to the principal of your community school once you have intentionally made acquaintances. I believe prayer and general goodwill toward the parents, students and educators will go a long way to getting everyone past the COVID-19 finish line. What can Middle Georgia do to better support educators? I believe Middle Georgia can better support educators by continuously seeking ways to volunteer at the school level, while financially funding classroom wish lists that teachers often finance with their own money. What needs to change in the classroom to promote more success for our students? The capacity of the teacher needs to increase with respect to individualizing instruction. Teachers need to be continuously trained on how to adjust instruction and use technology to manage individualized instruction. How can we better advocate for our public schools? Residents can advocate for our public schools by sharing their positive experiences with their social network community. For example, if you went to a band concert and found it to be enjoyable, it would be great advocacy for our public schools if you shared this positive experience with your Facebook community. Share your ideas for systemic changes on the local, state or federal level. The more we can individualize the learning experience to meet the needs of families with respect to increasing the chances of upward mobilization is our defined success. I believe federal buying power and influence should be used to create national Learning Management Systems (LMS) that are capable of exposing and guiding students along career paths that take into consideration culture, language and learning preferences. The local teacher would be a master of core standards, one or two subject areas and equally skilled in coaching families on the LMS with the goal of family/student upward mobilization. Second, I believe that to support such a desired outcome, all homes should have access to a limited network where educational and employment content is available. The LMS must be available in every home if we are truly interested in closing the access gap, which will become more synonymous with the achievement gap post COVID-19. OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2020 | maconmagazine.com 25