Interview with Carolyn Akridge, January 23, 2020

Partial Transcript: The school I am in right now is a suburban school.

Segment Synopsis: Akridge describes the demographic of the school in which she teaches.

Keywords: Elementary School; Gwinnett County; Korea; Millcreek Cluster; Netherlands

Partial Transcript: I always enjoyed music as a child. It was a great outlet for me.

Segment Synopsis: Akridge explains why she decided teach then describes how she found her first teaching job, the tools she lacked when she first started teaching and how much time she had to invest to teach effectively.

Subjects: 1-800 number; Dublin City; First job

Partial Transcript: I felt like i had a good experience.

Segment Synopsis: Akridge expliains how much she appreciated her college experience and appreciates it even more because she was matched with a good mentor.

Keywords: Georgia Southern; practicum

Partial Transcript: Maybe I’ve got a lot of stick-to-itness. I don’t quit a lot of things.

Segment Synopsis: Akridge explains why she stays in teaching and shares a few obstacles that she had to overcome that could be the cause a person to choose another career..

Keywords: 5-year mark; Goals; budget; challenge; resourceful; schedule changes; work ethic

Partial Transcript: Many times but probably my all time favorite was when I was working in Griffin.

Segment Synopsis: Akridge describes one particular time that she felt pride as the result of her students improving their performance inspite of the fact that they had a lot of personal challenges to overcome.

Partial Transcript: My most challenging moments, I can go back to the same school actually and when there was a change in the administration and that relationship isn't positive.

Segment Synopsis: Akridge discusses one of the most challenging times in her career and how it had nothing to do with the students and more to do with not having enough time or staff to be as effective as she would like to be. She also discusses how she has seen teachers and administration find a way to work around the challenges.

Keywords: clubs

Subjects: advocate; standardized testing

Partial Transcript: Pretty hands on. I have pretty high expectations.

Segment Synopsis: Akridge describes how she challenges her students..

Partial Transcript: He had cancer in his throat.

Segment Synopsis: Akridge describes how a student inspired her by excelling in spite of a serious setback.

Keywords: All-State band; cancer; clarinet