A College of Education graduate who created and teaches an innovative Early Childhood Education program at Loganville High School was one of 20 educators named to USA Today's third annual All-USA Teacher First Team.
Karen Lord Rutter, who earned three degrees from UGA - an Ed.D in occupational studies in 1998, an Ed.S. in home economics in 1983, and an M.Ed. in occupational studies in 1982 - was among the 17 teachers and three teams honored by the national newspaper for their vision, creativity and ability to inspire the best in their students.
Rutter created and teaches the Early Childhood Education Program, in which high school students run an on-campus preschool, observe classrooms and hold public school internships. Those finishing the 2-year program with at least a B earn college credit.
The veteran of 21 years in teaching, Rutter has students direct all aspects of "Loganville Little Learners," a half-day preschool for a dozen 4-year-olds, from planning lessons, teaching, setting up field trips and designing permission slips.
Her students quickly figure out whether teaching is for them. "Some say: 'I didn't realize it took 18 hours a day. This is not the job for me,'" says Rutter. She has students create and update their portfolios with their resume, and work documentation and creative ideas files.
Rutter teaches students that when they cross "the line" - where classroom linoleum becomes preschool's carpet - they must forget their own problems and focus on the children: "If you're having a bad day or whatever, it doesn't matter, because once you cross that line, it's not about you," says Brandon Wilkes, 17.
Rutter developed ECE after teaching parenting and family life classes so useful that many students recommended the classes be required. She is a presenter at national conferences and mentors students in numerous service learning projects, including providing free babysitting so parents can attend school meetings. "When you watch them take what you teach them and apply it, sometimes better than you, you just fall in love," she says.
The 17 individuals and three instructional teams named to All-USA Teacher First Team received trophies and checks for $2,500 for their schools Oct.13 at USA Today headquarters in Arlington, Va. Forty more educators were named to the Second and Third teams.
Winners were selected from hundreds of nominees by two panels of educators. What unites First Teamers is their ability to transform students into lifelong learners.
Two more UGA graduates, C. June Bryant, an history teacher at Milton High School in Alpharetta and Linda Hollis McCall, a third-grade teacher at Bartow Elementary in Savannah were named to USA Today's All-USA Teacher Third Team.
Bryant, who received an A.B. in history in 1971 and has been teaching for 28 years, is described as a "master at probing her students to reach deeper levels of meaning, to question the basis of their assumptions about what constitutes history, to discover how that history can be viewed from different lenses and to explore how studying history in relation to other disciplines can create richer and more meaningful contexts.".
McCall, who received an A.B. in sociology in 1962, was honored as half of a teaching team that includes colleague Stephen Daniel Ailes.
"Depending on when you show up in their rooms you might find yourself fighting through a rain forest, shooting across the galaxy or maybe sliding through a giant bubble that represents a mouth. At any rate you are going to find yourself absorbed into learning," their assistant principal says.
Overview: http://www.usatoday.com/life/teacher/cover.htm
First Team: http://www.usatoday.com/life/teacher/teach1.htm
Second team: http://www.usatoday.com/life/teacher/teach2.htm
Third Team: http://www.usatoday.com/life/teacher/teach3.htm
Honorable mentions: http://www.usatoday.com/life/teacher/honmen.htm
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2000