Honoring Dedication in Teaching

0:01 This podcast, Spotlight for Success, is our way of highlighting the incredible success stories happening in education right here in our home state of Georgia. Today, we're thrilled to be joined by Kelly Theodocion, who has made a significant impact in the field of social studies education. We'll explore her journey, insights and the positive changes she's creating in Henry County for students and teachers. So let's get started. So, Kelly, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Yes, I am a 29-year teaching veteran. I started teaching as a second career.

0:44 My first career was in journalism. I was a sports writer for the local newspaper here in Athens, the Athens Daily News. Banner Herald. Wow. So I covered Georgia sports, high school sports, did that for five years and then made the transition into teaching. My teaching career was 29 years, all with Henry County Schools at the primarily at the middle school level, and then I moved into the high school level English Language Arts and US History. Okay, and did you see connections between Language Arts and Social Studies? Oh, absolutely. That was really powerful when we could bring the two into the social studies classroom.

1:28 We talk a lot about getting kids to think like a historian and do the work of historian, and writing to me is evidence of your thinking. And so when students are reading source material, discussing source material, writing about it evidence of their thinking and then having the discourse around that, that's really where the social studies becomes real for them. That is wonderful, Kelley. Of your career in the classroom did you have any special moments or something like a milestone or something that happened, an achievement or an experience that was like a wow moment for you?

2:13 Absolutely. We have been blessed in Henry County with just amazing leadership, and a former coordinator of social studies brought to us a program called National History Day. National History Day is a research endeavor. It's a- I think it's been around for almost 50 years. Yeah, I think they did celebrate their 50th anniversary and they have a booth here at the conference. So I'm excited to visit with them again. But basically every year they have a theme, and this year's theme is rights and responsibilities. And then students have an opportunity to choose something from history.

2:54 There has to be at least a 25-year time difference to make it historical. And then they dive into the primary secondary source material and then they can create either a website or a documentary. They can write historical paper, they can do a stage performance to present their findings and a quick story of this in action. One year we took students downtown Atlanta to the Center for Human and Civil Rights. And when you go on a field trip with a large group of students, you break them off into small groups and then a chaperone walks with these small groups. When we got back to the school I wanted to check in with the whole group just to get a feel for what they saw and if they had questions.

3:40 And it became apparent very quickly that my eighth graders were not aware that young white men and women college age in their role of the civil rights movement, because they saw a picture of a lunch counter sit-in from Jackson Mississippi where it's two college-age girls, one white, one black and their teacher, and they are at the lunch counter and there's a crowd behind them pouring, you know, condiments on them and such, and this picture. They just wanted to know more about it. Well, that led into some questions and they said well, we want to know more about the lady who has her head turned from the camera.

4:26 We can't see her face. Well, a quick Google search and we discovered her name Joan Mulholland. And then we read a little bit about her and she's still alive. And then I said you know what? Now I took the lead on this part. I said let me see if there's anything on social media about Joan Mulholland. Well, I found a page on Facebook, the Joan Mulholland Facebook page, and I said girls, I'm going to send a message to this Facebook page and to see if we can talk to Joan. Well, within an hour I got the little alert button message back and it was a message from her son and he said absolutely, my mother loves to talk to students.

5:16 We scheduled a time for I called the girl's mother, I called the mother of the two girls and explained what was happening and I said hey, the son of John Mulholland wants to get in touch with you all. Well, later that night, the mother of the girls my students calls me and she says are you sitting down? I was like what happened? What happened? The son had called them and said hey, um, I live in Utah. My mom lives in Washington DC area, but she happens to be here with me visiting. Would you rather? Would you, would you want to ask some questions of Joan right now? And so, on the spur of the moment they had, you know, they got some questions together and it gives me chills thinking about how that photograph that they noticed in that museum led them to go and read about Joan.

6:09 And then we found a way to reach out to Joan and then Joan got- We got in touch with Joan. So long story short, they ended up doing a um a stage performance about Joan's life and connecting what Joan did in the early 1960s to things happening today and the parallels. And then, to kind of put a finishing point on the story, joan had a documentary that her son made and they were touring the state of Georgia going to colleges, and Joan calls us and said hey, I'm going to be in Milledgeville next week.

6:49 Would you all be able to come down? I'd love to meet you. And so the girls met her. Wow, what an amazing story that you know. It's like taking history and just taking it right out of the book and bringing it to real life. You know, or from the museum, you know from that place of learning, and then now it's becoming an encounter With history. Wow that is a wow moment. And those stories that aren't in the textbooks. You know those unknown stories but key players and stories, they deserve a spotlight on it.

7:36 How it exciting that no matter the age of our young students, they can be the historians to bring those stories to light. That is amazing. Wow, what a thing to share regarding students and the classroom experience like that. That is wonderful. Let me ask you so, now you've done this wonderful teaching, bringing these moments, and now you have a new role in Henry County. I do have a new role After 29 years. I did retire from classroom teaching, but I most definitely wanted to pursue other roles in the profession, and so now, with Henry County Schools, I'm part of a team that supports novice teachers who are moving into our profession from another career.

8:21 So they have not gone to college for education coursework, they've not had student teaching experiences, but they have a four-year degree, which means that they can come into teaching, and then there are some certification steps that that they start going through, but then I serve um, the title is a coach, but, truth be told, I'm learning just as much from them as they are for me, and so I go into all these coaching conversations. It's a true partnership and so. But basically I'm there to not just encourage but to model teaching strategies so that they can start to move the needle on their teaching practice.

9:09 That's wonderful. You're taking on a new cohort of teachers that are entering the profession. Absolutely, that is wonderful, joan. What a great on a new cohort of teachers that are entering the profession. Absolutely, that is wonderful, joan, what a great thing to be part of. Now I'd like to ask you know we're here at the Georgia Council of Social Studies, so is there anything interesting you're finding here or a connection or a special thing? I know you mentioned the Atlanta History event that day, but is there anything else here that has sparked your interest? Absolutely Most of my well. My teaching background was middle and high school, so I am zeroing in on the sessions geared to kinder through fifth grade looking for sessions that talk about boosting engagement, active learning and those sorts of things, and so that's where my focus is today but also learning from the thought leaders of our field, from not just the state of Georgia but from around the region, and really absorbing and taking advantage of all this expertise and brilliance.

10:16 That is wonderful, Joan. Is there anything else you'd like to share with the education community today? Well, I just want to thank the organizers of this event. If you're listening, and I encourage you to put it on your schedule for next year. We're in Athens. It's a great facility, it's just. I wish it could go on more days. Wonderful. A lot to learn, but yeah, it's a great event and I'm thankful to be here and to meet you all. Wonderful Well, thank you, joan Theodosian, a friend and a wonderful educator at Henry County Schools.

11:00 Again, this is ABC's Spotlight for Success and, joan, we look forward to seeing you in the future and learning more about the new things you're involved with, and I hope you have a great rest of the conference. Thank you so much, it was a delight.