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Burnette named top teacher in Fayette

Fayette’s new teacher of the year is proof that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Dawn Burnette, who teaches English at McIntosh High, was crowned the 2005 teacher of the year at an awards ceremony April 21 at New Hope Baptist Church’s north campus. She was one of three finalists vying for the honor. The other two contenders were Lisa Howell of Cleveland Elementary and Paula O’Shields of Starr’s Mill High.

As a student in the Fayette County School System, Burnette, who attended Huddleston Elementary, J.C. Booth Middle and McIntosh High, would have never imagined that one day she would walk in her mother’s footsteps; first as a teacher and then the county’s teacher of the year. Her mother, Judith Holbrook, a fifth-grade teacher who retired from Kedron Elementary in 2003, was a former Fayette teacher of the year.

As Burnette accepted her honor, she paid homage to her former teachers for her success as well as the teacher she knew best, her mother.

“My past teachers taught me so much and prepared me for this career,” she said. “Now I realize 14 years later that I have never stopped learning from the Fayette County School System.”

Burnette recalled in her early years of teaching how she thought she had all the knowledge and was responsible for delivering it to her students. One day she was asked to substitute for another teacher. She was instructed to discuss a book with the class that she had not read, suddenly she found herself in a situation where she didn’t have knowledge.

“I had to ask students questions about the book which not only engaged them in dialogue, but also helped me learn about the plot. I ended up learning as much about the book that day as the students and that is when I realized that I didn’t have all of the knowledge,” she said.

Burnette sees herself as a learning coordinator instead of a deliver of information. Like all other teachers, she develops lesson plans and determines what will be taught in her classroom, but she said her students share the load in their own learning.

“This requires students to think more critically, which they don’t like because they prefer for someone to tell them what to think. But what will they do later when we are not there to tell them what to think,” Burnette asks. “Kids really do enjoy learning when they take an active role in their education.”

Burnette said teachers are here to serve their students and she feels that students should be the judges of whether or not teachers are doing their jobs effectively.

“Who else knows what goes on in our classrooms on a day-to-day basis? If our constituents are our students, then they should have the opportunity to provide us with feedback,” she said.

Burnette’s students fill out an evaluation form at the end of each course to give input as to what they liked and what they think could be improved. She said the feedback she receives results in positive changes in her classroom each year.

“Asking students to evaluate their learning experiences allows them to play a more integral role in their own education,” Burnette adds.

Burnette has touched the lives of millions of students even though she has never taught outside of Fayette County. She is the author of a very successful grammar book titled “Daily Grammar Practice.“

Over the years, she observed that her own students struggled the most with grammar so she saw an opportunity to create a new method of instruction that would demystify grammar and make it easier to understand. The method is simple: students work with one sentence for a week at a time, analyzing that sentence further each day so that by the end of the week, they see how all the components of grammar connect together. Sentences get increasingly difficult each week and new concepts are added a few at a time.

Burnette published “Daily Grammar Practice” for grades 1-12 in 2004. She has since added a college level program and a book of writing strategies to the collection.

Just this year, Burnette lead her students in the development of a guidebook for high school freshmen titled “High School 101: Freshmen Survival Guide.” In just seven weeks the students nearly sold all of the approximately 500 books that they wrote and bound themselves. The book caught the attention of a Tucker publisher, United Writers Press, which is taking advance orders for the guide and plans to reprint the book.

As Fayette’s 2005 TOTY, Burnette will represent the county in the Georgia TOTY competition next spring.

Fayette’s annual TOTY program honors the county’s 28 teachers of the year from each elementary, middle and high school. The program would not be possible without the generous contributions of local businesses and organizations. This year, the TOTY alone received over $7,000 in cash and prizes.

TOTY winners from each school receive plaques from the Coca Cola Company recognizing their achievement. Also, Dell Computer, Inc. donates two desktop computers to the runners up and a laptop to the TOTY. Additionally, the TOTY receives a specially designed ring from Balfour and a $1,000 check from Allan Vigil Ford of Fayetteville.

Other top sponsors include Chick-fil-A Town Center, Don Jackson Lincoln Mercury, Fayette County Chamber of Commerce, Wachovia Bank, World Gym, Heritage Bank, PATHWAY Communities, J & R Clothing, Wildwood flowers, Beau Gresham Car Detailing, Bombay and Company, McAlister’s Deli, Talbot State Bank, Southern Community Bank, Williamson Eye Care, Wyndham Conference Center and the PTOs of Brooks, Crabapple Lane, Huddleston, Kedron, Springhill and Peeples Elementary schools, Fayetteville Intermediate and Hood Primary schools, J.C. Booth, Fayette and Whitewater Middle schools, McIntosh, Sandy Creek, Starr’s Mill and Whitewater High schools.