Elementary teacher Tracey Pendley of Atlanta has been named Georgia’s 2020 State Teacher of the Year.
Congratulations are in order for Tracey Pendley, an elementary school teacher from Atlanta, Georgia. She has been named her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year.
Tracey is a native of Atlanta. The young educator determined to become a teacher, she says, because during her rough childhood, her teachers were her salvation. Tracey’s mother was a single parent and an addict who spent time in and out of jail. She died when Tracey was a young teenager.
After her high school graduation, Tracey earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Religion from Furman University in 2006. She completed the requirements for her Master’s degree in Teaching in the Urban Teacher Education Program from the University of Chicago in 2009. Tracey was working with youngsters even before she earned her degrees. When an after school program for at-risk children was on the chopping block, Tracey volunteered to take over and direct the program in its three low-income neighborhoods.
Once she earned her degrees, Tracey inaugurated her career as a third grade teacher at a Chicago Public Turnaround School, where she taught for several years. In 2012, she returned to her home town of Atlanta.
In Atlanta, Tracey first taught 4th grade at Toomer Elementary. The next year she accepted a position at Burgess-Peterson Academy in the Atlanta Public School District. She has taught there for the past four years. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, she serves as a teacher leader and trainer. She also collaborates with community partners such as Page Turners Make Great Learners. And she established a 4-H Club at Burgess-Peterson. “One of my goals every day is to bring magic into the classroom,” Tracey declares.
For her work in the classroom, Tracey garnered the Atlanta Families Award for Excellence in Education in March, 2018. She also earned the Atlanta Public Schools’ district-wide Teacher of the Year honor in November, 2018. What’s more, the city of Atlanta issued a proclamation on June 3, 2019, to recognize her for her commitment to families in her community.
To read more about Tracey, click on this link to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.