Autrey Mill Principal's Post: 2013

Here's to the Teacher

By Dr. John Barge, State School Superintendent

Here's to the teacher rising at 4:00 a.m. to tend to the needs of her own family prior to leaving home for her school.

Here's to the teacher who arrives at school by 6:00 a.m. to ready her classroom for the day's lessons.

Here's to the teacher who is at his duty station every morning by 7:00 to monitor student behavior as students begin arriving on the buses, but the school day doesn't start until 8:00 a.m.

Here's to the teacher who used his own money to buy some new clothes for the child who has worn the same outfit for the last three days; other children are beginning to taunt that child for his smell.

Here's to the teacher who arrives at school an hour early every day to tutor students who are struggling to keep up the pace in the regular class -- and receives no extra pay.

Here's to the teacher who broke up a fight between two boys twice her size during the morning breakfast.

Here's to the lunchroom workers who arrived early to prepare breakfast for the majority of students in the school whose only meals that day will be the free breakfast and lunch they receive at school.

Here's to the kindergarten teacher who miraculously teaches 32 five year-olds for seven hours a day without assistance because budget cuts eliminated her paraprofessional.

Here's to the teacher who wipes the noses and tends to the cuts and scrapes of her students.

Here's to the teacher who cleans up after her sick student.

Here's to the teacher who is daily faced with the challenge of meeting the academic needs of five gifted children, five children with individualized education plans, five students who speak little to no English, and 10 average students all in the same class period.

Here's to the rural high school math teacher, or English, or science, or social studies, who must teach every subject to every child in the school because the school is so small they only earn one teacher per content field.

Here's to the teacher who endures the verbal abuse of a parent because his child didn't pass the teacher's class.

Here's to the teacher who endures the verbal abuse of a parent because his child made a 93 on the test and not a 100.

Here's to the assistant principal who takes a loaded handgun from a student who says the only reason he brought the gun to school was to protect himself from another child who threatened to stab him.

Here's to the same assistant principal who then takes a six-inch hunting knife off the child who threatened the one with the gun.

Here's to the teacher who lends a caring ear to a young girl who tearfully confides in her that she is pregnant and is afraid her father will disown her when he finds out.

Here's to the teacher who reads in a student's journal of the abuse she is enduring at the hands of her stepfather.

Here's to the teacher who pays for the eyeglasses for her student because her family can't afford them.

Here's to the teacher who spends hundreds of dollars of her own money supplying her classroom because budget cuts have eliminated her supply money.

Here's to the teacher who eats lunch standing up while performing lunch duty.

Here's to the principal who oversees the evacuation of her building due to a bomb threat.

Here's to the teacher who peers into the bloodshot, vacant eyes of his student who is strung out on drugs and strives to spark an interest in Geometry.

Here's to the same teacher who then deals with the intoxicated parent of the same child.

Here's to the assistant principal whose life is threatened because he won't let a child get into a car with an intoxicated parent who came to school to pick up his child.

Here's to the teacher who is caught in the middle of a custody dispute between parents over who has the right to information.

Here's to the teacher who is slapped and spit on every day by the severely disabled children she teaches.

Here's to the teacher who changes the diapers of her severely disabled children every day.

Here's to the teacher who catheterizes her profoundly disabled student every day.

Here's to the teacher who tends to her unconscious student who has had a seizure in her classroom due to a previously unknown medical condition.

Here's to the teacher who performs routine lice-checks on her students.

Here's to the teacher who drives a child home from school after a basketball game because his father won't pick him up.

Here's to the teachers of the deaf and blind.

Here's to the teacher who strives daily to break through the vacant stares and walls built by the child who spends most of her time at home locked in a room with boarded up windows and no food.

Here's to the counselor who comforts the child who just lost both of her parents in an accident.

Here's to the teacher who, in spite of all these challenges, must ensure that; all children are reading on grade level; that she is differentiating instruction to meet the needs of the special needs, gifted, English language learners and average learners all in the same class period; and, that he is trained and teaching the standards properly, and is making the expected growth every year.

Here's to the teacher who, after arriving home, prepares dinner for her family, cleans up from dinner, and gets her children to bed, before spending two hours grading papers only to fall into bed by 11:00 that night, if she is lucky, and then have the alarm go off at 4:00 the next morning to start all over again.

Here's to the teacher who is then openly harangued and criticized regularly in the public eye for not being successful with every child in his class.

Here's to the teachers of Georgia who have faced each of these challenges head-on and still miraculously managed to raise the level of student achievement in the state of Georgia to some of its highest marks ever.

News/Timelines/Due Dates

This week, our parents salute the AMMS staff including a luncheon this Wednesday. You may also choose to wear jeans every day this week!

I want to give a special shout out to the F.I.G.H.T club (thanks Jackie for starting this club) and student council for the great presence we had at Relay for Life! They sold S’mores made over a fire pit (thanks Dan)! It was great to have so many students involved this year and we were one of the highest donors.

Great picture of our visiting Korean teachers with their host teachers and their families at Stone Mountain this weekend. And notice our very talented sixth grade teachers in their newest profession! (see below)

Heads Up:

Rising 5^th grade students will be visiting AMMS next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, May 6-8. Music students will be performing for their arrival at 9:00AM. Please excuse these students for a few minutes while they perform for our future AMMS Lions.

Food Drive: Please talk up the food drive. This is a critical time for North Fulton Community Charities as students who are used to getting free and reduced lunch will not get that chance during the summer. Let’s really have a great turn out for those less fortunate.

Governance Council Elections – You will receive directions next week on how to vote for the teacher representative for governance council. The choice should not be too difficult as we only have one candidate. Here is her bio: Rebecca Myers

I am currently in my eighth year as a teacher and have taught at the high school and middle school levels. I have also taught in urban and rural districts fused with diversity. I have a Masters in Educational Administration and am a certified Biology and Middle Grades Science teacher with an Administration certification. I am currently working towards my PL6 certification at Kennesaw State University. I love education and I love teaching and working with children. They are the reasons I come to school every day and my motivation to continually work hard and improve as an educator. I would like to be a part of the governance council because of their roles in designing innovative solutions to increase student achievement and its impact on the direction of the school. I would like to be a member of the council that looks within the school and its community to work together, putting the needs of the students first, thereby increasing student growth and achievement. I currently influence the lives of about 100 students per year. I would like to take the next step and be a part of a larger democratic process that impacts many more students. Being a member of the school governance council will allow me to understand the educational needs of the community and use this as a focal driving point to increase student learning, growth, and achievement for all the students at Autrey Mill.

PRIDE: This Friday, May 9^th will be the final meeting for PRIDE this school year. (May 16^th – May Madness and May 23^rd – LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!) All grade lessons will have a concluding lesson of reflection and a survey. Think about ways you can celebrate this school year with your PRIDE groups. Reflect back on the memories that have been created during this year or even the past two or three years with your group.

Teachers and students will be asked to complete a survey. All surveys (Students and Teachers) should be turned in to Fran Meredith by the end of the day Friday, May 9^th.

Now is a great time to start cleaning out your PRIDE materials if you have not already done so. If you have been holding on to any PRIDE lesson materials that need to be returned or could be used again in the future please return those to Wendy Wilson or Kathy Nagle. If you have mosaic tiles from the lesson a few weeks ago, please put those in the cardboard box in the front office mailroom. Make sure ALL hula-hoops are returned to the PE staff.

Where is Livingston?

Marisa Wesker says, “The person I would like to pass Livingston to is someone who works day and (literally) night to accommodate the needs of ALL of her students. She does so with passion and integrity, and she has inspired me to be a better teacher this year. This person has become not just a colleague to me, but a friend and confidant. Her patience with some of our more challenging students is unmatched, and she teaches from her heart. From her, I have gotten great advice and a sounding board for ideas, issues, and pretty much everything else. This week, Livingston will live with Danielle Sherfey."

Happy Birthday

Jackie Sundal May 7

Sarah Jarvis May 7

Dana Griffin May 9

Michael Harrell May 9

Nomitha Thomas May 11