In the run up to the announcement of BCSD's 22'-23' Teacher of the Year, we spoke to our 21'-22' year winners about their commitment to teaching and what makes Baldwin School District stand out. This blog series highlights those incredible teachers and what they do to make a difference.
Ms. Spikes believes in leading with compassion. It opens many doors of opportunities for people of all different backgrounds. Ms. Spikes is a native of Milledgeville. She grew up with a tight-knitted family who taught her how to love unconditionally. Regardless of economic status or environment, her parents Peggie Spikes and William Spikes, always ensured her that she could achieve anything her heart desired.
That is exactly what she wanted to give to others, and it’s why she chose to go into social work after graduating from Georgia Southern University with a degree in sociology and later became a Special Education Teacher.
That is exactly what she wanted to give to others, and it’s why she chose to go into social work after graduating from Georgia Southern University with a degree in sociology and later to teach Special Education in small group settings similar to those that she grew up in.
“I’ve been told all my life that I have a lot of patience,” Spikes said, “My first job was working for the Department of Family and Children Treatment Services,” Spikes said she always knew that she wanted to work in a position where she could form relationships with people in order to help them. Although she’d always considered teaching, she demurred at the thought of classroom management.
“Once they know that you love them; that you want them there; you want them in your class; you want them involved; that you’re interested in them; when they realize that you are in their corner, they’re going to perform to the best of their ability"
“People would always say, ‘you’re so soft and you’re so kind’, so I didn’t think I’d be able to handle it,” she said. Then a friend of hers’ decided to answer Georgia’s call for more teachers by submitting an application for taking the GACE Test. Spikes went along with it, partly out of curiosity, but when she finally got the opportunity to try teaching out, “I knew immediately that’s where I was supposed to be,” she said, “Again, I loved working for the Department of Family Treatment Services and I was good at it. But this was so much more fulfilling!”
Spikes got a Masters from Troy State University and began teaching at Wilkinson County, both in large classes and small groups. While there, she won several inter-departmental awards, but never anything school-wide, let alone Teacher of the Year, until she came to Baldwin. “I was shocked,” she said, “I really was! Because I love what I do, and there’s so many people that are so deserving, so just to be nominated was an honor. To win, it humbled me and I was so grateful”
Spikes has an almost preternatural ability to care for her students no matter what their background might be. Her philosophy is that every day for every student is a fresh start. “Once I recognize the issue, I work on it,” she said, “I purposely say, ‘I’m so glad to have you here!’, ‘Would you like to answer the question?’... I purposely drill those weaknesses and encourage them. ‘Maybe yesterday wasn’t so good, but I know you can do it today!’ ‘It’s nine o’clock, you’ve been doing great!’”
Schlonda Spikes’ method of constant renewal makes her feel like a new teacher every year. She spends the first month of the year focused on relationship
building. “Once they know that you love them; that you want them there; you want them in your class; you want them involved; that you’re interested in them; when they realize that you are in their corner, they’re going to perform to the best of their ability, and that’s all I ask.” It’s a method that has made an extraordinary difference in the lives of the students who pass through Spike’s class. She exemplifies the quote by Lady Bird Johnson, “Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.”