What’s new?
Here are three new items in Gwinnett’s school system:
- New Schools. Two new schools have opened. Baldwin Elementary School, which is named after trailbreaking educator Beauty Baldwin. Coleman Middle School, named after state Rep. Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, a former Gwinnett educator.
- Entrepreneurship program. Junior Achievement is offering a program at Norcross High that will bring local business leaders who will teach students entrepreneurship skills.
- New Principals. Gwinnett has more than a dozen new principals this school year. Most are replacing principals who've retired.
Audrey Smith was working on three hours of sleep Monday morning, thanks to her newborn son, when she arrived at her new job at 6:49 a.m., about 90 minutes before her workday officially began.
The Gwinnett County native walked inside the new Baldwin Elementary School, which opened for the first time Monday, to do something she’s never done before. Teach.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter and multimedia journalist shadowed Smith on her first day as a teacher to get a closer look at the classroom challenges for a new educator at a demanding time for the profession.
Nearly half of new Georgia teachers leave the profession after five years, according to some statistics. Many Georgia school districts, and schools nationwide, are finding it more difficult to hire teachers due to low starting salaries, higher demands to coach up students to pass standardized exams and criticism of the public school system.
“We’re trying to fix education, but I don’t think there is one fix,” Smith said, explaining her philosophy. “You do the best you can.”
Smith, assigned to first grade, appeared calm, though she had a scary moment when two students nearly missed their bus ride home. The students largely followed her instructions and she achieved her most important Day One goal, as relayed to her by Principal Brenda Johnson.
“Get them here, get them fed and get them home.”
Smith wanted to establish with the students that she is in charge, as she was advised to do in an authoritative way.
“It’s not my nature (to be tough),” she said, gently chiding her students when they didn’t follow instructions.
Other goals included making sure the students behaved outside her classroom, raise their hand before answering a question and teaching them to solve problems.
“What should you do if you can’t tie your shoe?,” Smith asked.
“Ask your friend,” some students responded.
Gwinnett, the state's largest school district, hired about 1,200 teachers between the middle of the last school year and Monday. They were still looking to hire about 30 teachers last week to fill in if there's an emergency, such as a long-term illness.
Smith, 25, a product of the Gwinnett school system — Mill Creek High Class of 2009 — didn’t plan to become a teacher. She majored in political science and Spanish at Georgia College & State University. She moved to New York City after graduation and worked the last three years there at a charter school with a large Hispanic student body, organizing after-school events, parent-teacher conferences and doing everything but teaching.
Smith, though, felt led to do more.
She wants to make her students better by the end of this school year.
“I just want to be proud of the finished products coming out the door,” Smith said.
Much of her classroom is covered with Dr. Seuss book covers. In one corner are several Dr. Seuss books she owns and dusted off for her students. On Smith’s desk is a photo of her 2-month-old son, Timothy, named after her father.
All but one of the 18 students assigned to her arrived Monday. The first student, Jaqueline, dressed in a white, pink and purple cardigan with matching sneakers, peeked inside Smith’s classroom 25 minutes before class started. The students largely reflected Gwinnett’s student body, the majority were Hispanic and others were white, black and Asian. Smith is fluent in Spanish.
Laminated cards with each student’s name sat on specific desks which were clustered six desks a piece. Each cluster/group had plastic bowls with pencils and crayons. The first task was coloring a drawing of a fish.
Smith, in a purple blouse and black pants, prepared a schedule for herself, but occasionally went off script. The post-lunch bathroom break, she guessed, took 30 minutes.
“It shouldn’t take that long,” Smith said to a visitor.
The most stressful part of the day came at the end when Smith ran through the hallways with two students who nearly missed their bus. She raised her arms triumphantly after the last students were ushered on board.
Smith learned a few things Monday, such as carving out more time to let the students “be kids,” and to remind herself to have lunch. After the children left, she cleaned up her classroom and prepared a lesson plan for Tuesday.
“That’s the thing I think that is so beautiful with this profession,” she said. “You can truly start fresh every day.”
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