Media release: Three teachers have been selected as finalists for the 2013 Teacher of the Year recognition program for Floyd County Schools. The three finalists are: Kim Baker, a middle grades teacher at the Floyd County Education Center; Allison Goggans, a history teacher at Pepperell High School; and Shannon Pollitz, an eighth-grade gifted language arts teacher at Pepperell Middle School.
Kim Baker teaches sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students in all subjects at the Floyd County Education Center. She is in her eleventh year of teaching and has spent all but a few months of that time in middle grades. Mrs. Baker is a graduate of Shorter University with a middle grades education degree in science and social studies. She received a masters degree in middle grades education from Berry College. Mrs. Baker started her teaching career in a private Catholic school for a few months before beginning her career in Floyd County Schools at Model Middle School. She joined the staff of the Floyd County Education Center in 2007. Mrs. Baker works with students who have made poor decisions resulting in disciplinary assignment from their home schools to the Floyd County Education Center. She wrote in her application for Teacher of the Year, "Our school has the stigma that all the 'bad' kids are sent to us. What those who say this don't realize is that these are not 'bad kids'but just young people who have made bad choices." In her application, she regards as her most rewarding moments those when students understand that she cares. She wrote, "Rewarding moments are when students or parents contact me and tell me how much they appreciate me helping them to get back on track academically or personally."
Allison Goggans teaches tenth-grade World History, Honors World History and Advanced Placement European History at Pepperell High School. She began her teaching career at Buford High School in 1998 and moved to Pepperell High in 2004. Mrs. Goggans received a social science education degree and a masters in adult education from the University of Georgia. She has also earned an educational administration degree from Lincoln Memorial University. Mrs. Goggans loves the story telling element of history. She wrote in her Teacher of the Year application, "A certain individual (from history) may be mentioned in class, and it will go in one ear and out the other. However, if you can tell a story about the person, then you have the students' attention."
Shannon Pollitz teaches seventh-grade language arts and eighth-grade gifted language arts at Pepperell Middle School. She began her teaching career in Floyd County Schools in 2001 at Model Middle School, but she did not plant her stake to stay in her home schools. She spent a year teaching middle school students in Casablanca, Morocco and three years at South Central Middle School in Emerson, Georgia before returning home. Mrs. Pollitz returned to Floyd County and joined the staff at Pepperell Middle School in 2010. She has a middle grades education degree from the University of Georgia, a masters in educational leadership from Kennesaw State University and she has just completed her specialist degree in curriculum and instruction from Lincoln Memorial University. Mrs. Pollitz uses her experiences living and traveling abroad to inspire her students. She wrote in her application,"I want to expand my students' worldviews. There is a sign in my classroom that says, 'Where will your education take you?' Beside it is a world map with arrows to all the places I have traveled or lived and pictures of me at those places. One of my goals is to show students that there is life beyond the small bubble in which they live."
The finalists were selected by a review committee from the Rome/Floyd Retired Educators Association. The committee made the selections from written applications submitted by the teacher of the year representatives from each school in the Floyd County School System. Questions asked in the application were taken from the Georgia "Teacher of the Year" application form.
The three top teachers will continue in the selection process to select the 2013 Floyd County Schools Teacher of the Year. The process will include a personal interview and a classroom observation of each teacher working with students. The interviews will be held on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at the Floyd County Board of Education Office on Riverside Parkway. The selection process will conclude on Tuesday, September 25, 2012 with classroom observations. The finalists will be evaluated by a selection committee made up of members of the Floyd/Rome Retired Teachers Association.
The 2013 Floyd County Schools Teacher of the Year will be honored on October 16, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. during the regular monthly meeting of the Floyd County Board of Education. The Floyd County Teacher of the Year program is sponsored by the Northwest Georgia Credit Union.
Contact Information: Tim Hensley at hensley@floydboe.net, or 706.234.1031 ext. 7121
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