“A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops” (Henry Adams).
With her kind and humble demeanor, Pam Gardner is definitely influential for all of the students who come through her classroom. In fact, she has always felt called to be a teacher and positive influence for children.
“I just remember always wanting to be a teacher. I can remember playing school with all my stuffed animals laid out on my bed and using little coloring books and story books to teach, and that was my class,” remembered Pam. “I went to Quitman schools until eighth grade, and graduated from high school. I went to what was called Livingston University and graduated with my degree so that I could teach.”
When she got married, Pam and her husband returned to Quitman to live, and she began her career teaching in the lower elementary.
“I’ve been a teacher for 26 years. I taught pre-school for two years and kindergarten for all the other years,” explained Pam. “There are a lot of things I like about my job. I like to see the children coming in every morning with big smiles on their faces and coming and hugging. That’s the good thing about the little ones. Even if you get on to them, they forget about it in just a few minutes. I love when they’ve learned something new and figured out a concept. You can just see it in their eyes—that little sparkle. I just love the innocence of the little ones.”
Like other teachers in the state, Pam has had to handle changes since the pandemic began earlier this year. There are things she truly misses about her job, and she is doing her best to adjust her lessons to match whatever form of teaching will be needed as this school year begins and progresses. She is well aware of the importance of her role in the classroom and wants nothing more than to be the best teacher she can be for all of the students she will soon be blessed with.
“I miss the interaction. I feel like when they’re little, they need a good foundation,” stated Pam. “It’s hard to teach reading when you’re not right there with them. We do so much with interactive games and hands-on manipulatives in the classroom because they get bored with just a bunch of worksheets. If it’s the beginning of school, we have to teach them some different things before we can really get started and just get the excitement for school back. I’m trying to think about how I can do everything digitally now. Little ones have shorter attention spans. They’re not going to want to sit there and just watch something unless it’s something that may be highly interactive. There are a lot of challenges we have now that we have to overcome as educators.”
With her experience and love for her students, there is no doubt that she will achieve her goals and do her best to provide all of her students with a strong education. It is now that she will be the most influential to her students and can impact their lives for years to come.
Pam knows how influential teachers can be and how they are able to inspire students to achieve dreams and even create a love of different things in students. In fact, she can still recall teachers who really inspired and influenced her as she was growing up.
“There were two teachers who really inspired me growing up. When I was in fifth grade, my family had a car accident during Spring Break. I’d been burned real bad and couldn’t go to school for about a month,” remembered Pam. “Mrs. Sybil Williams would always come out to tutor me and bring my work since I couldn’t go out. Mrs. Scottie Peden always read us the best stories, and I can still remember all the stories she read to us. I hated to miss school because I would miss her reading. There was one time a girl in our class had to move away while we were in the middle of a story, and I can remember Mrs. Peden going out and buying the book to give to her before she left so that she would be able to finish the story. I thought that was really sweet of her to do for her students. I think she created my love of reading then. Those two were inspirations to me as teachers.”
As much as she loves her job teaching, Pam also has three children and two grandchildren that she loves to spend time with, and she has her own hobbies and talents that she enjoys.
“I enjoy reading, travelling, and starting new things. Every summer, I try to take some type of trip, even if it is just a small trip,” said Pam. “I enjoy spending time with my family and playing the piano. I started taking piano lessons when I was eight; Mrs. Diane Holloman was my first piano teacher. I have always loved playing the piano and now play the piano for my church. I learned to read music, and then I started picking it up by ear. I’d hear something and want to try to play it. Now, I can play pretty much anything. It may not sound the best, but I can play almost anything by ear.”
No matter what she is doing, people can always find a caring heart when talking to Pam. In fact, her caring and nurturing personality offer some strong advice for everyone around her.
“During this crisis of Covid, be nice to everyone and show kindness. There’s so much bad that we’re hearing lately. We just need to show kindness to each other and have each other’s backs,” advised Pam. “Be helpful. If there’s a neighbor or someone you know needs help, then help that person out. We need to reach out to others and do things for them.”
If you’d like to nominate someone in Clarke County for Person of the Week, please send the name and contact information for the person to bmangum@ clarkecountytrib.com.
