6 minute read
A Second Term in
A Second Term in Unprecedented Times
Georgia’s TOTY Shares Her Thoughts on the Pandemic, Reopening Schools and Serving Another Year as the State’s Top Educator
By Scotty Brewington
Tracey Pendley — only the second students’ access to technology — the gaps Atlanta Public Schools teacher to across the state and how we get devices win the state’s top honor of Teacher and hot spots to those children,” said of the Year — is now adding another disPendley. “We have found that it wasn’t tinction to her résumé. As a result of this just students having trouble connectmost unusual time, Pendley is serving a ing during the shutdown, but teachers second term as the state’s top educator. as well. It doesn’t come down to income
Pendley will continue in this role until a level as much as it does location. Highnew award winner is selected in spring of speed internet simply isn’t available in 2021. (This isn’t the first time a teacher has many communities.” held the TOTY distinction for two consecIn May, Gov. Kemp and State utive terms. Catherine S. Pittman of Glynn Superintendent Richard Woods County served back-to-back in 1995-96 announced the creation of six K-12 as the state shifted its program timeline to Restart Working Groups to plan for align with the national program.) the 2020-21 school year in the midst of
We recently caught-up with Pendley COVID-19. The groups include teachers, — a fourth grade teacher at Atlanta’s school district staff, public health offiBurgess-Peterson Academy who also cials and representatives from other state serves on Gov. Brian Kemp’s K-12 Restart agencies including non-profits. There are Work Group — and asked her how she groups focused on school meals, distance plans to navigate her role during these and professional learning, technology, unusual times, what she is hearing from mental health, supplemental learning, and her fellow educators, and insights from facilities, equipment and health guidelines. serving on the state’s school reopening Pendley serves on the committee focused committee. on distance and professional learning.
“There has been a lot of concern cir“In Georgia, we had 41 percent of stucling around digital connectivity and our dents in rural communities picking up physical packets because they didn’t have access to in the internet. We can’t just rely on packets,” she said.
‘We have an On Pendley’s committee, the opportunity to focus has been on how to make virtual learning engaging for all completely reimagine students. how we teach students “We are looking at this as an opportunity to think bigger, better and what we expect and out-of-the-box,” Pendley said. from them. One of “The expertise brought to the table has been outstanding. I am pleased the biggest pieces of to see how much the voices of eduadvice I give is not to focus on test scores — cators really mattered and that our voices were considered. We spent many hours over Zoom really hashfocus on growth.’ ing out the details about who will benefit, who we are missing and who is falling through the cracks.”
‘We Learned a lot in the Spring’ A positive change this year, Pendley says, is that teachers in Atlanta Public Schools will have three weeks of preplanning as opposed to the typical one week before students begin school. The goal of this extended planning time is to allow teachers to connect individually with students on their class rosters and to begin to form relationships with them before the first day of school. During this time, teachers can also assess students’ connectivity and access to technology.
“We learned a lot in the spring. While I was on those Zoom calls, I got to see which students were having to speak through their mom’s phone while she was running out to work and what kinds of assignments they were able to work on,” said Pendley. “We are creative. We found ways to provide resources, and many teachers delivered learning activities to students. I ran a book drive at my school and in June, I was able to deliver 140 bags of books to students at
2 0 2 0 - 2 0 2 1 G E O R G I A T E A C H E R O F T H E Y E A R
their homes. I got to drive around and see the kids — it was wonderful.”
Atlanta Public Schools has committed to providing students with hot spots and devices, which parents can pick up the week before school begins. Other changes this year include streamlined grade-level times for meetings, providing a more consistent time for students in each grade to meet online. One driver for this is that it will free-up some of the issues of two siblings at home trying to use the Wi-fi at the same time.
Georgia has also waived standardized testing for the upcoming school year, allowing teachers to focus more on remediation and student safety.
“I haven’t met a single educator who doesn’t want to be physically in the classroom,” said Pendley. “There is so much debate about teachers’ commitment and there’s a lot of blame going around, but I haven’t met a single educator that is not 100 percent committed to providing the most equitable education possible to students. We want to be there, but we also want our families and our students’ families to be safe.”
Platform is Education Equity Part of being Georgia’s TOTY includes speaking at conferences and conducting various workshops and programs around the state, helping teachers develop resources for the upcoming school year. Last year, Pendley took a sabbatical from teaching, traveling to various conferences and colleges to speak to education majors. When not on the road, she was working at her home school, which she will continue doing this school year.
Atlanta Public Schools plans to start the year virtually for the first nine weeks. Though Pendley will not have a class of her own again this school year, she will coach incoming students and help them get setup and started virtually. Pendley said that she will miss not having a classroom of her own, but is excited about the opportunity to
use her platform for important social justice issues she is passionate about.
“I think God works in mysterious ways. When I was first asked to continue on for a second year, I was excited, but I knew I would miss the kids,” said Pendley. “Our community is really waking up to issues of racial injustice and my entire platform is education equity and a teacher’s impact. Now I have the opportunity to dig deeper and talk to teachers across the state about how we bring equity to the classroom.”
Throughout all of the chaos of the past few months, Pendley has remained focused on what she believes to be the most important thing in the classroom: “making magic.”
“Students are children. We like to force our kids to grow up, but they are kids. They need magic and engagement,” she said. “It will be challenging to now do that virtually, but I know it is possible. Georgia has committed teachers!”
Pendley is especially excited about the upcoming school year because both of her daughters will be at her home school. Her youngest will be entering first grade and her oldest is a fourth grader. With both students beginning the year remotely, she will also be helping them with their virtual learning.
What is Pendley’s advice to teachers during these challenging times?
“We have an opportunity to completely reimagine how we teach students and what we expect from them. One of the biggest pieces of advice I give is not to focus on test scores — focus on growth,” said Pendley. “Stop focusing on levels and instead use your own classroom assessments. Help kids see and focus on their growth. We all make mistakes. Love your mistakes — that’s how we grow. Reflect on what has happened and make a better plan for the next day.” n
