"Our future attends school today," says Mary Eager, Georgia's Teacher of the Year for 2001. "Each of us has a hope for our tomorrow. This hope calls for action and involvement in the public schools of today."
"So much is being asked of the public schools. Without the best efforts from each of us, the mission becomes impossible. We need to respect and appreciate the gifts each of us brings to the task of educating so many diverse students. We need to celebrate the successes, applaud the effort and keep on believing," says Eager, a mathematics teacher at Lumpkin County High School and a UGA College of Education graduate.
Eager, who received educational specialist degree at UGA in 1997, should know something about education - she has taught for 28 years. It is the second time she has been named the Lumpkin County Teacher of the Year.
"Her work at UGA illustrated her potential for important scholarship. I can see why people think of her as an outstanding teacher, but I know her as a thoughtful scholar with important insights into learning and teaching mathematics," says Pat Wilson, an associate professor of math education at UGA and Eager's adviser. "Georgia is fortunate to have teachers like Mary who understand mathematics and know how to share their love of mathematics with their students."
Eager says she believes the survival of effective public education is essential to everyone - both as individuals and as a global society.
"I visualize the tapestry we are creating. Each of us has a thread we bring to the project. The threads are different colors and various textures. We weave these together into a strong, sturdy fabric. This tapestry becomes the fabric of our society," she says.
Eager has been named Lumpkin County STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Recognition) Teacher five times, Outstanding Teacher of Technology three times and was awarded the Ninth Congressional District Excellence in Teaching Mathematics award last year.
"I love the challenge of mathematics. No other subject causes me to want to think as deeply as my involvement with mathematics. I cried tears over math problems, but also felt a keener sense of accomplishment than in any other subject," says Eager.
"I want students to share those feelings. Many students cry the tears and never experience the exhilaration of 'getting it,'" she says. "My mission as a high school math teacher is to help students reach for that sense of accomplishment... that feeling of mathematics as meaningful and useful and beautiful."
Eager began her career in 1972 teaching fifth grade at Tadmore Elementary School in Hall County. She taught in Oglethorpe County for four years while her husband completed a master's degree at UGA. She and her family moved to Dahlonega where she began teaching math at Lumpkin County High in 1980.
Eager is a graduate of Wesleyan College and earned her Ed.S. from UGA and her M.Ed. From North Georgia College. She is a member of the Georgia Association of Education, the National Education Association, the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the Consortium of Mathematics and its Applications.
This is the third consecutive year that a UGA graduate has been named Georgia's Teacher of the Year. Eager was preceded as top teacher by Amy Denty of Wayne County in 2000 and Andy Baumgartner of Augusta in 1999. She is the 12th COE alum to win the honor since its beginning in 1971.