Brenda Arnold
Willie J. Williams Middle School
7th Grade Social Studies
How long have you been teaching?
I have served in education for over 35 years as a volunteer tutor, paraprofessional, guidance department clerk, registrar, paraprofessional again (nine years total), and classroom teacher for the last 22 years.
What inspired you to pursue a career in education?
This is my second career. I was on consultant-basis leave for six months and volunteered at my children’s school in Alameda, California. As a volunteer, I was tutoring struggling kindergartners and non-English speaking students. I determined that I wanted to leave my successful career in construction to help others construct productive lives through a positive learning environment in the school system. I continued working in that school until returning to Georgia, and then I joined Colquitt County School System.
What is your favorite thing about teaching or your biggest success story?
I always love seeing the light bulbs click on and eyes light up when a student grasps an idea or concept, masters a complex passage and ideology, can relate and share their learning with their peers, and achieves higher scores and levels of literacy.
My overall biggest success stories are when parents bring their children to Open House at the beginning of each school year and tell their child why they wanted me to be his or her teacher, too. I love visiting with former students and hearing them tell their favorite times in my class. I get excited when a former student sends me an email telling me how he or she is doing in higher grades.
What challenges do you face in the classroom?
Every year, every class, and every student presents a new set of challenges. Some are home related, and others are enabled apathy. Some are learning difficulties, while others are plain bored. I completely believe that every child wants to do good and be good, and they need teachers to model and teach so that each and every single one can achieve those two goals. Differentiation, to the level it is necessary, requires much planning and collaboration as well as flexibility. Being an effective teacher requires much energy and compassion. Most days are "eat a chocolate bar" day.
How do Gallopade products or Gallopade Curriculum help you in the classroom?
The Gallopade Social Studies text/workbook is available in digital and a hardcopy consumable, which offers flexibility and differentiation. I prefer the page-turning, coding, annotating, and written response components of the Student Book. Students have learned the value and location of some of the “forgotten,” less-taught components of texts: table of contents, glossary, index, graphs, timelines, political cartoons, etc., that are built into the texts. Page-turning makes a difference by supporting spatial recognition and learning.
Gallopade’s expansive varieties of digital resources are great supplements for students who are doing remote learning and for differentiation for those whose brains are naturally technology-wired. There is something for every learning style and strategy.
What is something that every student should know about teachers?
- We love you. We want you to be successful.
- We want to inspire you to become the best version of yourself.
- We want to give you your voice, hear and value what you have to say, and be your voice only when needed.
- We will help you make good choices, fight injustices properly, and advocate for yourself and others.
- We do not want you to ever go hungry or without basic needs.
- We have lots of love and hugs.
- We make mistakes, do not know everything, and will learn much from you.
- We don’t live at the school and have families, too.
- We will spend much of our income on our students and classroom.
- We want you to learn at least one new thing every day.
- We want you to be our student and in class.
What advice would you impart to a new teacher or someone who wants to become a teacher?
- Be real and show them your humanity and who you are as a person; know that you can make the world a better place for your students.
- Build relationships with students and learn about the people who are important to them.
- Engage and involve the parents, even the aunts, uncles, grandparents, and older siblings, as much as possible in the child’s learning. It takes a village.
- Make each day count. My mantra is: “I have my students 1 hour per day and 180 days out of the school year. Their parents have them for life. But, I still want to make a memorable and worthy impact on that life. Once my student, always my student!”
What do you love to do when you're not teaching?
I love helping others and being a voice for those who need it. So, I am still teaching — mostly about life and service to mankind. I am an active volunteer in my church and a local service organization, Moultrie Lions Club, plus I tutor adults in English and Citizenship Literacy.
Our Lions Club focuses on five global causes: vision and hearing, feeding the hungry, pediatric cancer, diabetes awareness, and the environment. I manage the vision service project with just over 50 financially needy recipients receiving eye exams and eyeglasses this year, in addition to being the organizer of our major fundraising project. I am the advisor for the Lions school-based service project organization LEO Club. LEO stands for Leadership, Experience, and Opportunity. I work hard to provide that motto for our 6-12 grade members.
I also tutor immigrants who are studying for the civics test for citizenship, and I am the sponsor for three who are completing their change in status from residency. Nothing has ever made me more proud as when one recently came out of the government office having passed that test of 100 civic questions!
I have designed a life skills curriculum based on STEAM summer day camp for Southwest Community Action Council. We hold the camp at a college as a base location, but we go on tours of industries and other college/vocational campuses. We teach the Science of Me, Technology and Me, Engineering the Best of Me, the Art of Me and Agriculture and Me, and the Mathematician in Me. The middle school participants clock in for a 40-hour work week and stay engaged with all of the activities. We teach dining etiquette as well as social media etiquette. We build and fly drones. We go shopping with a planned menu and budget and real cash. We learn the value of affirmations.
Last, by no means least, family time is huge with me. I love spending time and traveling with and spoiling my grandchildren — biological and adoptive, whom I take under my wing. As an educator, I have learned that accommodating children is my forte.
Do you know educators who go above and beyond the call of duty to inspire their students? Nominate them to be our next Teacher Spotlight!
