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Schools

Teacher of the Year: Kathy Hays

Math teacher Kathy Hays is recognized for passing on the formula for success.

In the recent announcement of , Kathy Hays was named Teacher of the Year at Cartersville Middle School. The distinction is granted to teachers who not only inspire their students to achieve academically, but who prove time and time again to be inspirational examples of high values and character.

Hays has taught school for 27 years, 16 of which have been as a Math instructor at Cass Middle School.

“I feel like that my job as a teacher is not just to teach my students Math skills,” said Hays. “It’s so much more. I have to try and reach them and understand that they come from numerous backgrounds and home lives, and that they all don’t have the same abilities within my Math class and I need to incorporate different strategies to reach all of them.”

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Hays tries to stand out as a Math teacher in the way she approaches her instruction of the often-tricky subject.

“I try to relate math to the outside world and not just do drills from a textbook,” said Hays. “I try to break all of the Math skills down to how they are related to sports or other interests like music or dance in order to let the kids understand where the concepts come from.”

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Hays doesn’t feel that it was any one quality in particular that led to her being nominated for Teacher of the Year, but that some of the teachers and administrators around her see that she has a passion for her students and her job as a teacher. She makes it her policy to not only teach values that will help her students become successful in her classroom, but values that will help them outside of the classroom and later on in life.

In a recent press release the school's principal said of her, “Kathy is the consummate role model for any young person. Humble, soft-spoken, intelligent, driven, compassionate are all adjectives that describe Kathy Hays.”

As for what the future has in store for Hays, she has no intention of leaving the classroom any time soon.

“I’m looking to try and reach as many children as I can,” said Hays. ”My personal goal is for every one of them to succeed, and even though I might not be able to reach them all, that’s always been my goal.” 

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