(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 an Oct. 6 banquet.)
Ebony Lindsey first started her career as a manager in the business sector where she often trained new corporate employees. That experience revealed her desire to be a different kind of educator.
“As a manager, when I was doing a lot of conducting interviews and technology training from ages 18 to 60 plus, I noticed a variety of deficits in writing and math, communication and analytical skills,” she said. “When I was coaching, a majority of the new employees said they didn’t have a clear understanding of a lot of the concepts from their formal years of schooling; so I proactively chose, anytime I was teaching them or training them or whatever, I wanted to make sure I was clear and concise.”
Eventually, many of her trainees communicated to Lindsey their want to reverse time and have Lindsey as a teacher when they were growing up.
“So then, 20 years later here I am,” said Lindsey, who earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics, a master’s degree in instructional technology and a specialist’s degree in technology education.
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Coming up on her 19th year teaching in Richmond County, Lindsey currently teaches science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics from Pre-K to fifth grade at Wheeless Road Elementary.
With teaching various grade levels, before starting class Lindsey said she first prioritizes her students’ feelings.
“I want to know how my students are doing. I want to know how they are feeling before I get to any teaching, because if your child is not feeling well or if they’re not doing well, they’re not going to be able to learn anything that you’ve taught them,” she said. “So, I believe that my teaching style is one that incorporates the whole child, where I get to know them.”
Lindsey also said she heavily focuses on making her students leaders and encourages them to take responsibility for their own learning.
“With me I like to connect everything to the real world, so when they’re leading – even if it’s just a small group or the whole class – I tell them that those are the types of skills they’re going to need when they become productive citizens once they leave high school,” she said.
Through her own behavior teaching, Lindsey said she hopes to model important values to her students.
“I want to model respect for others. I want to model trustworthiness and high expectations; I’m really big on high expectations, and in the classroom, I really want to model accountable talk in which students learn how to correct each other,” she said.
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Whether students disagree over an argument or are trying to constructively criticize each other, Lindsey said she prioritizes teaching her students how to respect each other’s different opinions and respectfully correcting mistakes.
“I try to do that with them and with my peers; if they see me talking to another adult in the school building, I try to model that accountable talk and that respect,” she said.
While emphasizing high expectations to encourage and challenge students, Lindsey also highlights to children the importance of being creative innovators.
“One of the most important things I try to implement is, first of all, I want the kids to know that they can be creators. They don’t have to just be consumers and users of things, of content and technology,” she said. “As a leader and creator, I want them to know that they can be producers of any type of content or any type of product, so that once they leave K-12 they’ll be able to use all of those skills in whatever job or in their service they partake in.”
Lindsey said she believes intrinsic motivation, along with external, is of the utmost importance to shaping children into becoming future industry leaders and academics.
“I just want them to know that school is a place where you can learn and have fun at the same time,” she said. “It’s not just a place where you’re going to test, test, test. You can have fun and I hope that they know that they’re safe here too. When they are having fun, they can make mistakes and It’s not going be the end all, be all … they can learn from those mistakes.”
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Lindsey said she wants her students to make a mistake, admit that and move on in order to grow from said mistake. She wants her students to learn perseverance and how to work through difficult criticism and situations.
Outside of the classroom, Lindsey said she believes in supporting the content they learn by connecting it to things in the kids’ everyday lives.
“For example, the other day we we’re learning about bridges, and I talked about it in class because I told them, on the way home, to look at bridges and connect them to the ones we’re learning about,” she said. “I always tell them, ‘Whatever we do in class, make sure you connect it to some real-world experience,’” she said.
The winner of Richmond County’s Teacher of the Year award will be announced at a banquet at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center, 2 Tenth St.
Liz Wright is a staff writer covering education and general assignments for The Augusta Press. Reach her at liz@theaugustapress.com
