LILA MAIOLO

Gwendolyn Blackwell started teaching at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary in 1986, and has continued her work all the way through the pandemic to today.

Amid a holiday feast and energetic chatter at a recent Thanksgiving meal for students, families and staff at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School, a teacher was delighted to run into one of her former students. This student, however, was from her very first class in 1986, and she was accompanying her son to school who is now a student there himself. 

Second grade teacher Gwendolyn Blackwell has been teaching at OAES for the past 37 years, and has persisted the test of time and a global pandemic as a result of her passion for teaching. Today, her classroom is adorned with a colorful collection of posters and supplies to help her students learn, the vibrancy of which mirror her lively personality.

Blackwell was offered her job at OAES the semester before she graduated college and began working there the following year. Her first classroom was actually a portable trailer. After walking in on the first day to the undecorated classroom with a flea-ridden carpet, Blackwell said she recalls having felt an “overwhelming disappointment.”

However, she said she was lucky to have veteran teachers take her in and mentor her in the beginning of her career. 

“They just took me in and nurtured me and, you know, helped me decorate my room,” Blackwell said. “I learned so much from those ladies those first few years.”

Over her years of teaching, Blackwell said she has seen some differences in students and families. In fact, she found that, over time, the parents of her students tend to be younger and that many students now come from single-parent households where their parents work, making it difficult for children to receive as much support at home. 

Additionally, OAES’s student population is approximately 79% minorities, according to US News. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the district sought to provide its students with sufficient resources to be successful with virtual learning. Blackwell said that she also helped drop off additional supplies at students’ houses to support them during this time. 

Nonetheless, Blackwell found that many of her young students struggled with virtual learning during the pandemic. Many students logged into class late, often from bed or while watching television.

“The majority of our children, you know, they did have deficits because of that year of COVID,” Blackwell said. “When some of those kids were tested at the beginning of second grade, they scored kindergarten scores.”

However, she did find that many of these same students made great strides in their learning very quickly that following year. In an effort to support her students during this adjustment period, Blackwell managed to have perfect attendance last year, OAES’s first year entirely back in-person after the pandemic. 

Blackwell’s colleague, Pam Shearer, another second grade teacher at OAES, said that Blackwell became a learner herself during the pandemic, working hard to adjust to using technology in an effort to help her students.  

“She is probably one of the most unnoticed people around because she just does her job, she avoids the spotlight, and she just consistently is there,” Shearer said.

Blackwell was recently recognized as Employee of the Month by the Clarke County School District for the first time at the October CCSD Board Meeting. 

Despite a national teacher shortage and a wave of teachers quitting at OAES in recent months, Blackwell has continued to show up, year after year, in support of her students. She said she has a true passion for her work and that she believes teaching is “a calling.”

“It’s something I’ve always known that I wanted to do,” Blackwell said. “I think I was put on the Earth to do this job, I just couldn’t imagine doing anything else.” 

Why I Wrote This Story

As a final assignment for my News Reporting and Writing Class, we were assigned to write a profile story on an influential figure on our assigned news beat, mine being education. I chose to profile Gwendolyn Blackwell because I believe that her long standing role as an elementary school teacher is particularly honorable and impressive. In writing this story and interviewing Ms. Blackwell, I learned the value of conducting multiple interviews and developing relationships with your sources as a journalist. Ms. Blackwell was wonderful to work with and I truly enjoyed getting to know her and hear about her experiences so that I could share them with others through this story.