Math teacher Linda Brasher was instructing her class one day when fellow faculty members Elizabeth Mohanan, Malik Bostic and James Campbell walked into her classroom and told her that she was selected as one of five finalists to be the 2012-2013 Teacher of the Year.
“I got a little emotional because my students joined in on the congratulations,” Brasher admitted. “I feel it is a great honor because there are so many great teachers at Grady.”
Brasher started teaching seven years ago when she left her job as the Metro Atlanta YMCA director to pursue a degree in education. Since earning her degree, she has taught at Rockdale County for two years and at Grady for five years.
“The two aspects of the [YMCA] job that I loved were working with teenagers and training,” Brasher said. “I was at a point in my career that in order to advance I needed to move out of state. I am a Georgia girl and my family was here, so I decided to go back to school and get my teaching certificate. It was the best decision I could have made.”
Sophomore Jennifer Steckl, who had Brasher for Math I as a freshman, said Brasher was an exemplary teacher who prepared her well for Math II.
“She gave me all the utilities to help me succeed in math,” Steckl said. “She gave us her phone number if we needed to call her, and we could text her if we didn’t understand something.”
Another of Brasher’s former students, sophomore Robert Brown, described Brasher as an honest and focused teacher. Steckl and Brown agree that Brasher is a committed and hardworking teacher.
“I think that she deserves to win this award,” Brown said. “I went to a few of her tutorial sessions, and whenever I was there I saw and experienced her helping out so many kids that were having trouble with math. I think that is why she became a teacher.”
Brasher engages herself in several extracurriculars. For the past three years, Brasher has coached the golf team. She also has worked with the robotics team, Math Success Program and Saturday school. Brasher currently serves as the faculty adviser of the National Honor Society.
In an effort to become a better teacher, Brasher attended a few teacher conferences where she learned about new teaching and motivational methods. Brasher also changed a couple of aspects of her room to make it a better learning environment.
“I did try a flipped classroom (a method of teaching where the teacher creates a video of the lesson and for homework, the students watch the video, take notes and do the example problems) at the beginning of the year, but it proved to be unsuccessful so I changed my teaching method,” Brasher said. “I am a strong believer of, ‘If it’s not working, change it.’ I also worked hard this year to build an encouraging culture in the classroom.”
Part of the reason she won this award, Brasher said, was due to the support and help of academy leader Raymond Dawson and the rest of the faculty, who voted for the award on an online survey. Even though Brasher won, she still strives to be a better teacher.
“I feel as a teacher you always have room to improve,” she said. “Unless 100 percent of your students pass, you can do better. In all honesty, this can be a very defeating profession so receiving a pat on the back is very motivational.”
