Woodruff Honors Fayette County Teacher

A Fayette County band director who has devoted over 20 years to music education in Georgia has been named one of five 2009-2010 honorees for Woodruff Salutes Georgia Arts in Education Leaders.

Ricky Williams, who has been the band director at Bennett’s Mill Middle since it opened in 2007, was nominated for the honor by the school’s band parents. The purpose of the Woodruff Arts Center’s program is to honor teachers, school and arts administrators, community leaders and volunteers throughout Georgia, who have championed and demonstrated the ability of the arts to positively impact the lives and learning of young people in grades Pre-K through 12.

Williams demands hard work, discipline, and teamwork, and holds students to a high standard. He strongly encourages all students to take private lessons and has established a Private Lesson Academy at the school to make lessons more accessible to students. Williams also started the tradition of a Sixth Grade Honor Band, allowing talented band students the opportunity to work with an outside director and perform with a group of students at a high level. He finds opportunities for his band to perform in the community and competitively, having won many awards and honors in a very short time.

“Mr. Williams has dedicated his career to providing top quality music education to students in the state of Georgia. He demands a high level of discipline and strong work ethic from his students, and these are skills that serve his students well, not only in music but in whatever their future may hold,” says parent Lorrie Buchanan.

The Woodruff Arts Center will contribute $2,500 in Williams’ honor to an arts-in-education program of his choice. A celebration for this year’s honorees will be held at the Woodruff Arts Center in May.

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Finalists Named for Fayette County Teacher of the Year

Friday is usually the favorite day of the week for most people, and for three teachers, it was a day that they will not soon forget.

The Teacher of the Year prize patrol made surprise classroom visits on January 29 congratulating the three finalists selected to vie for the 2010 Fayette County Teacher of the Year title. The three finalists are Sally Meyer, Crabapple Lane Elementary; Jamie Munoz, Bennett’s Mill Middle; and Carrie Collins, Peeples Elementary. The winner will be announced on April 22, 6 p.m., during the Teacher of the Year ceremony at New Hope Baptist Church, North Campus.

For Sally Meyer, a gifted teacher at Crabapple Lane Elementary, a career in education was not her first choice. She was a successful banker, a highly ranked employee who enjoyed her work, but was unsatisfied.

“Have you ever felt like a misfit? That’s how I felt. The corporate culture left me unsatisfied because every decision I made was impersonal,” she says.

She decided to change careers and become a teacher because school had always been a positive place where she felt successful. Now, she applies what she learned in banking to make real life connections to math and social studies.

Meyer creates her own teaching units that focus on the Georgia Performance Standards. Her original curriculum integrates subjects and links real life to school.

“I enthusiastically share my sense of wonder and love of learning through original units that require critical thinking, are based on my own learning adventures and make specific connections to real life outside of school,” she says.

Meyer has presented her original teaching units at annual conferences and some of them have received awards and honors from various organizations. They are also used as part of the curriculum for gifted students in the Fayette County Public School System.

Although she has received recognitions for her teaching accomplishments, she says the accomplishment that makes her most proud is the impact she has on children everyday.
“I see it in the excitement and pride shown when they have worked through their frustration and finally understand a concept. I feel it in my heart when I have to say good-bye or when I read the newspaper and learn that one of my former students accomplished a personal goal,” she says.
Meyer sets high expectations for her students and tells them that when a brain is stretched, it says “thank you.” When her students struggle, she praises their efforts and facilitates progress by tutoring, developing specialized lessons and sponsoring clubs.

Looking back on her decision to leave the corporate world to be become a teacher, Meyer says she has no regrets.

“Twelve years later, I still love teaching; it is the perfect career match for me. It has allowed me to make decisions with my heart, not just my head, and seeing the positive impact I have had on adolescents has been exceptionally rewarding,” she says.

Meyer has taught for 12 years in the Fayette County Public School System. She started her teaching career at Peeples Elementary and has worked at Cleveland, Tyrone and Robert J. Burch elementary schools prior to teaching at Crabapple Lane.

Like her colleague, Jamie Munoz, a science teacher at Bennett’s Mill Middle, didn’t dream about becoming a teacher when she was young. Instead see dreamed about a corner office with a wall of windows, a leather chair and a big executive desk. She was on her way to achieving this dream, majoring in accounting at the University of Georgia, when her dream started to change.

She volunteered for a nonprofit organization, Reading is Fundamental, and worked with second grade students at a local elementary school where she discovered she enjoyed watching them grow in their reading skills. A summer job as a camp counselor later solidified her decision to change her major to education.

Munoz says part of being a great teacher is the willingness to want to entertain students to help them learn. She says building relationships with students is integral to their success. Students learn more if they respect, enjoy and feel connected to the teacher.

“I am willing to stand on my head, to amuse, for the sake of students’ learning. If learning can be both educational and fun, why not capitalize on both,” she asks.

Much of the learning that occurs in her classroom is hands-on, interactive and collaborative. Students often work cooperatively within groups because the shared effort requires students to employ communication and critical thinking skills. She also utilizes students’ interest in music and technology.

“I teach students songs and raps with lyrics depicting scientific concepts, and I encourage students to take advantage of the innovative technology to access relevant science data and present their findings,” Munoz says.

Munoz loves watching students experience light bulb moments and delights in the fact that she is the reason they are able to grasp complex scientific theories.

“Although I may not have a corner office with a wall of windows as I had once planned, my classroom is on the corner of the sixth grade and main hallways, and the view into the delicate minds of our future is often breathtaking,” she says.

Munoz has been teaching in the Fayette County Public School System for 10 years. She began at Whitewater Middle as a science, math and reading teacher before moving to Bennett’s Mill.

Carrie Collins, a kindergarten teacher at Peeples Elementary, always knew she wanted to be a teacher, more specifically, a kindergarten teacher. She loved playing school with her sisters, but her real inspiration was her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Walker.

“She had a way of making me feel special in a classroom full of students needing the same attention. She was interested in my life and that made me interested in hers,” says Collins.
Collins tries to emulate Mrs. Walker in her classroom by forming relationships with students, motivating those who seem impossible to motivate and inspiring students that need the extra push to be all that they can and more.

“It makes me feel wonderful to reach a student who struggles academically, socially or behaviorally. I know I have made a profound impact when these types of students look forward to coming into my classroom, smile when they see me outside of school, and send me notes years after completing kindergarten,” she says.

Collins realizes that students learn at different levels; she sets up her classroom so that high performing students are challenged and those who need extra help are equally supported. One way she engages all learners is by creating songs with motions to teach everything from oceans and continents to money skills.

“I know all students can learn and achieve at high levels if given appropriate resources and adequate time,” she says.

She also believes that students need to feel safe and have a sense of belonging in order to learn. She says her students feel comfortable working, exploring, taking risks and learning because they think of the classroom as a second home.

“We often take time to acknowledge feelings, celebrate successes, comfort friends, and assist each other with problem solving,” she adds.

Collins has taught in Fayette County for 11 years at Peeples Elementary.

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Young Fayette County Artists Inspired by Tut Exhibit

Students take a break to pose outside of the ancient Egyptian tomb they built shortly after visiting the Tut exhibit in Atlanta.

After visiting Tutankhamen, the Golden King and the Great Pharaohs exhibit at the Civic Center, seventh graders at Bennett’s Mill Middle School in Fayette County decided to share their experience with the rest of the school.

They built their own ancient Egyptian tomb out of papermache, clay and paint under the direction of art teacher Melissa Raymer. The tomb features a life-size sarcophagus (funeral receptacle), ceramic canopic jars (used by ancient Egyptians during the rituals of mummification), coffinettes (containers for organs of a mummy), cartouches (name plates) featuring the student’s names in hieroglyphics, and giant paintings of Ancient Egyptian gods covering the walls.

Thanks to the seventh graders’ hard work and creativity, other students at the school who were not able to attend the Tut exhibit still got to experience the fascinating culture and customs of the ancient Egyptians.

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Bennett's Mill Students Create Books for Uganda School

Students in Joliene Price’s language arts class show off the grammar books they created for Onono Memorial College in Gulu, Uganda

Approximately 550 student-created instructional books from Bennett’s Mill Middle School in Fayetteville are being used by children at Onono Memorial College, a school near Gulu, Uganda that serves students from 12-24 years of age.

Through the Books of Hope program, every student at the school wrote and illustrated books on English grammar and other educational topics. Art teacher Melissa Raymer spearheaded the project with help from the school’s English teachers.

“I thought this would be a wonderful learning experience for both teachers and students because the school desperately needs the books, among countless other things. Our students can learn a great deal about writing, Africa and conditions of children around the world through this program,” Raymer explains.

The people of the Uganda region have had their lives torn apart for over 20 years in a vicious civil war that has claimed the children as the primary victims. The children who have survived face many challenges, one of them being making up for lost years of schooling. Unfortunately, most of the schools do not have resources to adequately serve them; especially needed are books on English, a language skill they need to learn to become productive.

Books of Hope is a service-learning program where US schools are matched to a school in Uganda. Students write, illustrate and bind books that are sent to the sponsored school to be used as instructional materials for their classrooms.

“Even in the midst of a recession, most of us have nothing to complain about compared to the issues faced by the children of Africa. Our books are gifts of friendship and symbols of hope to children who, for a long time, were forgotten,” says Raymer.

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Bennett’s Mill Wins Regional Academic Competition

Fayette County's middle school students recently showed off their knowledge of various academic and performing art subjects at the PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) Region 6 Academic Bowl for Middle Grades.

Only two school teams from 12 regions throughout Georgia are selected as regional winners. The Bennett’s Mill Middle team won one of the two slots for Region 6. Winning teams go on to compete at the state finals.

The PAGE Academic Bowl features teams of middle school students answering questions on subjects ranging from Georgia history to mathematics, science, literature and the performing arts. Opposing teams compete against the clock to answer toss-up and bonus questions in order to score points.

The goal of the program is to inspire students to excel academically, to enhance student self-confidence and self-esteem through high achievement, and to encourage both a team and competitive spirit.

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Peachtree City's Booth Middle School Team Advances to National Science Olympiad

Fayette County's middle schools had a strong showing at the 2009 Georgia Science Olympiad with J.C. Booth Middle School securing its 16th trip to the national competition.

Bennett’s Mill, Fayette, J.C. Booth, Rising Starr and Whitewater Middle schools all secured wins at the regional tournament, allowing them to advance to the state competition on March 28 at Gainesville State College. Each of the schools earned at least first-fourth place medals in a variety of events at the state level, but it was Booth that emerged as the first place winner advancing to the national competition hosted this year by Augusta State University May 15-16.

Booth won the state competition medaling in 19 of 23 events with 79 points. Rising Starr placed third in the state with 159 points.

Booth has won a total of nine first place finishes at the national level. Science teacher Mary Wilde coaches the team. This will be her final year as coach; she will retire from teaching at the end of the school year.

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Fayette County Students Advance to State Geography Bee

The port of Rotterdam is built on the delta of which major European river? If you are struggling with the answer, then you might call on one of Fayette County's State Geography Bee qualifiers for help.

Logan Austin, 8th grade, Bennett’s Mill Middle; Ali Jawad, 8th grade, Flat Rock Middle and Sam Burgess, 6th grade, Rising Starr Middle, will represent Fayette County at the 2008-09 Georgia Geography Bee on April 3 at Georgia College and State University.

They are among 100 of the state’s brightest students in grades 4-8 selected to participate in the competition. Their selection was based on their performance on a written test to determine their eligibility to compete at the state level. In order to take the written test, students must first win their individual school’s competition. The competition is affiliated with the National Geographic Bee.

By the way, the answer to the question is the Rhine River.

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Bennett's Mill Student Receives Volunteer Service Award

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program has recognized Bennett’s Mill Middle student Katherine Burke with its President’s Volunteer Service Award.

The award recognizes young people who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities and their country. Katherine earned her award by working with special needs students.

She created homemade t-shirts for Bennett’s Mill students on the Special Olympics team, and put together scrapbooks of the students as a Christmas gift for their families. At the end of the school year, she created calendars highlighting the special needs students and their accomplishments throughout the year.

“I would encourage other young people to give everyone a chance; they must get over their fears of the special education students and become involved. Other young people need to know that conditions are not contagious, but they can catch a great deal more if they truly connect with one of the kids. Once you are able to connect, you will have the best feeling in the world,” Katherine says.

Sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program recognizes young people across America for outstanding community service activities. More than 250,000 young people nationwide have been considered for these awards since the program began in 1995.

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Fayette County Math Students Sweep Top Awards

Math students in Fayette’s middle schools swept first place awards in all three divisions of the 2009 Griffin RESA Middle School Math Contest.

The first place winners are Bennett’s Mill (Division I: Smaller Schools), Flat Rock Middle (Division II: Medium Schools) and Rising Starr Middle (Division III: Larger Schools).

In addition to the first place finishes, Whitewater Middle placed third in Division II and Logan Austin of Bennett’s Mill placed second in the overall individual winners category.

The Griffin RESA Middle School Math Contest is a regional competition among middle schools in the Griffin RESA region, which consists of Butts, Fayette, Henry, Lamar, Newton, Pike, Spalding and Upson counties. Over 22 middle schools participated in this year’s competition.

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Annual Career Fair a Success

Jeffre Fay (right) and Joe Thomas of ClubZ! Tutoring talk to Bennett’s Mill Middle students about careers as tutors and small business owners.

Nearly 2,000 eighth graders from Fayette County’s five public middle schools had an opportunity to explore future job opportunities during the fifth annual Fayette County Schools Eighth Grade Career Fair.

Students from each school spent an hour at the fair interviewing and talking to professionals from more than 70 different career areas. Professionals represented ran the gamut from photography, food service and truck driving to environmental engineering, health science and occupational therapy.

The fair was held at Heritage Christian Church February 5-6 in conjunction with National School Counseling Week. All eighth grade counselors in the school system helped coordinate the event. By organizing one large fair for all eighth graders, the counselors are able to expose students to a wider variety of careers than would be possible with individual school fairs.

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Fayette County Students Win Awards at Regional Literacy Competition

After months of rehearsing and winning school and county-level competitions, students from Bennett’s Mill Middle, Fayette Middle, Oak Grove Elementary and Rising Starr Middle brought home awards from the 2009 Griffin RESA Regional Literacy Days Festival.

A total of five students placed in the poetry recitation portion of the festival. They are Ethan Scheper, Oak Grove Elementary, third grade, first place; Abby Scheper, Oak Grove Elementary, fifth grade, third place; TaNia Nash, Fayette Middle, sixth grade, first place; Diana Ricketts, Rising Starr Middle, seventh grade, third place; and Lexus White, Bennett’s Mill Middle, eighth grade, third place.

In addition to the poetry recitation winners, Livi Cote’, a seventh grader at Rising Starr Middle, took second place in the ready writing portion of the competition.

The Griffin RESA Regional Literacy Days Festival is a regional competition among elementary and middle schools in the Griffin RESA region which consists of Butts, Fayette, Henry, Lamar, Newton, Pike, Spalding and Upson counties.

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Fayette County Schools Earn Achievement Awards

Fayette’s elementary, middle and high schools have collectively received 30 awards from the Georgia Department of Education in recognition of their academic achievement.

The inaugural Superintendent’s Distinguished Achievement Awards honor schools that had the highest achievement and greatest improvement on state curriculum tests: the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) and the End-of-Course Test (EOCT).

All of Fayette’s awards were given in the “achievement” category. The top 10 schools in the state with the highest percentage of students scoring in the “exceeds” category in each honored subject area and grade level received achievement awards. The honored subjects and grade levels include Grades 1-8 Reading CRCT; Grades 2 and 6 English Language Arts CRCT; Grade 9 Literature EOCT; American Literature EOCT; English Language Arts and Reading GHSGT; Grades 1-8 Mathematics CRCT; Algebra I EOCT; Geometry EOCT; Mathematics GHSGT; Grades 4 and 8 Social Studies CRCT; U.S. History EOCT; Economics EOCT; Social Studies GHSGT; Grades 5-8 Science CRCT; Physical Science EOCT and Biology EOCT.

A total of six elementary and middle schools received achievement awards for performance on the CRCT:
Braelinn Elementary – Grade 2 Reading and Grade 2 Mathematics
Huddleston Elementary – Grade 2 English Language Arts and Grade 2 Mathematics
Kedron Elementary – Grade 2 Mathematics, Grade 3 Mathematics, Grade 4 Reading, Grade 4 Mathematics, Grade 4 Social Studies, Grade 5 Mathematics and Grade 5 Science
Peeples Elementary – Grade 4 Mathematics
Bennett’s Mill Middle – Grade 6 Science and Grade 7 Science
Rising Starr Middle – Grade 6 Reading, Grade 6 Mathematics, Grade 6 Science and Grade 7 Mathematics

Both McIntosh and Starr’s Mill high schools received achievement awards for performance on the EOCT:
McIntosh – Algebra I, Geometry, American Literature, Biology, Physical Science and Economics
Starr’s Mill – Physical Science and Economics

Again, both McIntosh and Starr’s Mill earned achievement awards for the GHSGT:

McIntosh – English Language Arts/Reading, Mathematics and Social Studies
Starr’s Mill – Mathematics
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