(Editor’s note: The Augusta Press will feature each of the five finalists for Richmond County’s Teacher of the Year. The winner will be announced at a Sept. 28 banquet.)
For Dr. Lawanda Lovett-Cunningham, a special education teacher at A. Brian Merry Elementary School, teaching was a calling she could not ignore.
After teaching for more than 14 years, the last three of which were spent in Richmond County, Lovett-Cunningham has recently been announced a Teacher of the Year Finalist for the school system.
She currently holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Morris Brown College, a Master of Arts in Christian counseling from Luther Rice Seminary and University, as well as a Master of Arts in teaching with a concentration in special education from Walden University.
Later receiving her Doctor of Education in special education from Walden University, Lovett-Cunningham said teaching students living with special needs is a privilege she takes pride in every day.
“I felt like I could make a difference in the life of children with different handicaps or disabilities,” she said. “I just really feel like it’s a calling and that God has placed me on this Earth to work with these kids, because he knows that I have the compassion to work with them and am willing to do whatever I need to do to help them.”
Wanting to fill a gap within her community, Lovett-Cunningham said the most difficult aspect of transitioning to teaching material to those within the special needs program was adjusting the curriculum to best fit the various needs of her students.
“I became a teacher, because I feel like this population of students often gets overlooked, and don’t receive the type of care and instruction that they need to be successful in life … sometimes they’ll give us a curriculum that’s cookie-cutter style and it doesn’t work,” she said. “You have to figure out how that child learns, and then you adapt it for them. I learned not to be afraid to say, ‘okay this is not working for this child.’”
Becoming more confident and braver in her own teaching abilities, Lovett-Cunningham said she strives to advocate for her students and teach others not to underestimate a person because that individual lives with a disability.
“Truly, there’s nothing different about these kids. They just learn differently,” she said. “A lot of the time, I think people don’t give them the chance to learn, and I’ve had so many times where teachers think, ‘they can’t do this.’ So, they’ll end up having the students just sit and watch videos … but these kids can learn; they just have to be taught a different way.”
Teaching her students to read, while some elementary schoolers in “regular classes” are falling behind, Lovett-Cunningham said she takes pride in keeping her kids on par with learning expectations and foundational skills.
“It’s important they know that I have high expectations, and it’s even important for the parents to know that too,” she said.
Referencing how some parents have the tendency to stop pushing their child to overcome physical and learning milestones as a result of diagnoses, Lovett-Cunningham said she always tries to show parents that students can excel if only given encouragement and shown patience.
“They can do it, you just have to be structured and show them,” she said. “We spend a lot of time actually working closely with the parents and helping them to learn how to work with their child.”
Identifying her classes as team efforts, Lovett-Cunningham said she tries to instill a familial environment and establish strong partnerships with parents.
“I use a team approach in teaching, because I believe everyone’s voice needs to be heard, including the student’s,” she said. “If you take the time to really listen to the children and get to know them, you can learn from them just like they learn from you. I believe I’m only the strongest as the weakest child in my room.”
Through advocating and communicating with parents, Lovett-Cunningham has even been able to identify when serious health problems are occuring within a nonverbal child. Recalling how one child’s eating patterns had changed, through her attention to detail and knowledge of her students, Lovett-Cunningham said she was able to warn a mother about her child’s hidden health problem.
“I told her, ‘no, there is definitely something wrong. I don’t know what it is, but something’s wrong,’” she said. “So, she took her back to the doctor and we found out she had stomach cancer, but had I not been that adamant about it, they would not have known, because she wasn’t able to tell them. I’m glad I was able to stand firm and she got the treatment she needed.”
If nothing else, Lovett-Cunningham said she hopes her students leave her with a deep seeded love for learning.
“I want them to want to learn and be successful, and desire to be an asset to the community,” she said. “I think they need to realize that all of us have an opportunity to add something positive to the community, and if they can continue to learn and add something then they’ll be fine.”
In the next 10 to 15 years, Lovett-Cunningham said she hopes to continue working in special education, because of her love for the work. Whether her involvement entails directly teaching students herself or demonstrating to new teachers how to adapt curriculums to those who live with special needs, Lovett-Cunningham said she believes a higher power placed her exactly where she is needed.
“My goal in life is for every child to know that they can learn,” she said. “In 10 years, I still hope to be teaching this population, because I really want my students to receive the best.”
After finding out she was selected as a finalist, Lovett-Cunningham said she was overcome with an immense sense of joy.
“To just make the top five was really a surprise and it’s an honor,” she said. “I’m still shocked.”
If she is chosen as the county’s next Teacher of the Year, Lovett-Cunningham said she would hope to utilize the achievement to propel building up parent abilities.
“I want to come up with a program to make parents partners, especially those who have children with behavioral problems,” she said. “Because, a lot of the time, I’m noticing that parents are frustrated … they don’t know what to do.”
It is Lovett-Cunningham’s hope that the county will prioritize parents’ involvement and education in order to address behavioral problems and encourage students to change.
The Richmond County Teacher of the Year will be announced at a banquet on Thursday, Sept. 28, at the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center starting at 7 p.m.
