SHARING A WORLD OF LEARNING
From Union-Recorder, January 20-January 22, 2007
Scott Teague can be reached at (478) 453-1452 or by e-mail at steague@union-recorder.com.
Even teachers can keep on learning. Putnam County's Teacher of the Year, Rita Thomas, may have spent 14 years teaching, but she's spent her entire lifetime learning, often from the very teachers she works with at Putnam County Elementary School, she said.
"I love learning, I really do. I didn't realize how much until [I got older]. I was just hungry for more," Thomas said. "I've changed roles, grown and learned a lot from the teachers who saw me first come in where I'm teaching now."
Thomas, a second-grade classroom teacher turned media specialist at PCES, said she hopes to instill in her students her life-time love of reading and learning.
Thomas involves her students in two reading clubs to foster interest in literacy. Third-through fifth-grade students in the Mighty Readers Club meet monthly to discuss books. Fifth-grade students compete with Principal Susan Usry in the Newberry Book Club to see who can read 20 books and pass a test about the assigned books.
"I feel truly blessed because I'm doing something that I love," Thomas said. "I learn so much from the students because they just love learning, and they really keep me going. Early in the morning, when I'm still waking up, they're wide awake and ready to learn."
Thomas is a first generation college graduate. Her father is a retired soldier, and her older siblings followed his military path. Thomas said it looked to her that she too would follow in her father's footsteps.
"I had thought about it and wanted to go to college, but my older brother and sister had both gone into the military," she said. "I thought I was going to do the same thing, but after my older sister went into the military she told me it wasn't for me, that I was too soft-hearted." But pursuing her dream would be difficult.
"I graduated high school as an honor graduate, but I didn't go to college right after high school because as a first-generation college graduate, no one in my family knew the steps to get enrolled in college," she said.
She worked the first year after high school and put herself through college. Not content to graduate with just a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, she eventually pursued her master's degree in library media and her specialist's degree in early childhood education. She even went on to get her doctorate in curriculum development.
Inspired by her sister's example, both older and younger brothers and sisters have gone back to get their college degrees or are currently in school, she said.
It was her upbringing in the church and early experiences in school that guided Thomas to teaching at the elementary school level.
The Sunday School teachers at her family church, Second Beulah Baptist in Hancock County, made the greatest impression on her, she said.
"That couple had the most impact on me, and they weren't in education at all." Thomas said. "They were really concerned about us and really took us under their wing."
The couple was concerned about our intellectual growth as much as they were about our "spiritual growth," she said.
Her own teachers in elementary school kindled her interest in teaching at that level, she said.
"Although I had some excellent teachers all throughout school, it was those elementary school teachers who always stayed in my heart," Thomas said. "I think it was a part of them that was instilled in me that made me want to become an elementary school teacher."
Throughout her tenure, Thomas has touched the lives of many of her students, Principal Usry said.
"She has turned the entire school into her classroom," Usry said. "Her impact is even greater in the media center because her reach is now greater. Children leave there with a love of reading."
One student whose life she changed and who in turn affected her own life stands out in her mind, Thomas said.
"She had a difficult time in second grade and was retained. We worked together with some other staff members, and now she's an honor student, she's taking leadership classes and she's very active and successful. Her mother always tells me whenever she sees me how much she appreciates how I helped her child," Thomas said.
Thomas said she tries to unite what the students learn in school with what they experience outside of school.
"The hardest part is making that connection with what they're learning in the classrooms and with what's going on in their real lives. If you can do that, you can help them to be successful in life," she said.
Students recite a poem before every lesson in the media center to try to bridge that gap between theory and praxis, or application, Thomas said.
The poem reads "The more you read, the more you know. The more you know, the smarter you grow. The smarter you grow, the stronger your voice, when speaking your mind or making your choice."
"You've got to find something in common that all students share, and demonstrate that you're interest in learning and how excited you get by learning," to generate the students' enthusiasm for learning, Thomas said.
But, learning goes beyond the subjects taught in school, she said. It's about creating a well-rounded person.
"Learning isn't just about academics, but it's also about preparing a child to be successful in life. That's part of educating the child as a whole," Thomas said.
The learning process, at all stages, is greater than the sum of its parts, Thomas said.
"Education is life," Thomas said, "and life is education."