Michelle Barnette

Position: Seventh Grade Math TeacherSchool: Bowdon Middle SchoolSchool District: Carroll County School DistrictCity, State: Bowdon, Georgia
About the Nominee: Michelle Barnette is in her 23rd year of teaching and has taught at Bowdon Middle School for the past 17 years. Her love for her content is evident in the ways she tries to connect with her students and foster their understanding of what is being taught. She makes learning fun and uses a variety of methods to maintain their interest in math. Mrs. Barnette cares for her students and is a strong voice for them, both in and out of the classroom.Outside of her normal classroom responsibilities, Mrs. Barnette has sponsored the MathCounts team for many years. Students on the team compete with other local schools at the University of West Georgia each year. Last year, she sponsored the Bowdon Middle School Academic team. During their regular season, the team won every match but one and finished the year as Grand Champions. Mrs. Barnette also offers morning tutoring sessions for her students during the school year. She works with the remedial math teachers to come up with lessons for her students who need help in certain areas.Mrs. Barnette serves as the seventh grade team leader and is a member of the Recruit and Retain committee. She participates in the UTeach program at the University of West Georgia, which allows local college students to gain experience by teaching lessons in a classroom. For the past two summers, Mrs. Barnette has also participated in the TEAMS (Teacher Education for the Advance of Math and Science) program at the University of West Georgia. Through this program, teachers work collaboratively in groups to come up with experiments and learning activities on an assigned topic that can be brought back for use in the classroom. Mrs. Barnette has worked for several years on the county-wide math curriculum committee to develop common assessments to be used in math. As a part of this committee, she has worked with new teachers to help lead them through the math standards and to make sure they understand what they are supposed to be doing.The number of lives she has shaped through math education are countless![nominee_videos nominee_email="michelle.barnette@carrollcountyschools.com"]