History has been made again. For the second consecutive year, a Fayette educator has been named a finalist for 2008 Georgia Teacher of the Year.

Shelly McLemore, a science teacher at Flat Rock Middle and Fayette’s 2006 Teacher of the Year, was chosen as one of 10 finalists for the statewide honor from among 147 local district teachers of the year who applied. A panel of 20 educators and business and community leaders as well as members of the Georgia Department of Education read the applications and selected the finalists.

“I thought I had reached the highest professional honor possible as Fayette County's Teacher of the Year. To now represent Fayette County has a finalist for Georgia Teacher of the Year is more than I could have ever dreamed! I am both humbled and honored,” says McLemore.

Last year Dawn Burnett of McIntosh High became the first Fayette teacher to ever be named a finalist for state teacher of the year. She was the county’s 2005 teacher of the year.

McLemore has worked in Fayette for six years as a science teacher at Flat Rock. Unlike many teachers, McLemore did not always want to be a teacher but she says she did love school. As a youngster and adolescent she found solace in school because it was a refuge from her unstable home life.

“My school and my teachers were always the one thing I could count on, the one right thing in my life,” says McLemore.

Due to lack of money for college, McLemore graduated high school and went straight into the workforce as a bank teller. It wasn’t until the death of her younger sister that she realized she wanted to do something to make a difference in people’s lives.

“My sixteen year old sister committed suicide. I know that it was this tragedy that led me to where I am today,” she says. “I wanted to make a difference in the world, and maybe because no one had done so for my sister, I especially wanted to make a difference in the lives of young people.”

At the age of 30, McLemore graduated college and began teaching sixth grade science. She says she strives to develop trust and respect from her students because when trust and respect exists, her students are willing to open their minds to her and the real learning begins. McLemore also integrates art into her classroom in an effort to reach students at all academic levels. She uses a variety of art modalities including poetry, drama and music.

A separate panel of judges will conduct site visits in the coming weeks to observe each of the finalists in the classroom. The winner will be announced March 29 at the annual Teacher of the Year banquet.

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