LAFAYETTE, Ga. — LaFayette Middle School math teacher Jamie Bloodworth doesn’t ask anything of her students she doesn’t demand of herself.
Those demands are what led to a recent certification as a master teacher by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, said Mrs. Bloodworth, a 20-year veteran teacher who spent the last 18 years teaching middle school math.
“I’ve probably wanted to teach since I was just little, probably 5 or 6 years old,” she said as she sat in her holiday-quiet classroom in Walker County, Ga. Now, she teaches advanced math to middle-schoolers and gifted students at LaFayette Middle.
Mrs. Bloodworth was always a good student — valedictorian at McEachern High School in Marietta, Ga., and a William E. Brock Jr. scholar at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga — and people urged her to seek success in more lucrative fields of work.
“It’s not what I do, it is what I am. I am a teacher,” she said. “I could’ve done whatever I wanted to do, and that’s all I ever wanted.”
The master teacher program has existed since 2006 and Walker County has only one other master teacher, fellow LaFayette Middle teacher Chastity Steadman. The certification is granted based on achievement among the same group of students under the teacher seeking the certification, officials said.
“It gives some real validation to what I do. In my heart I know I’m a good teacher but seeing the results of it not just in my classroom, but comparatively, is good,” she said.
The certification lasts only five years and teachers must reapply to maintain it.
“That gives you motivation” to keep improving, she said.
Phyllis Hunter, school board member and parent of students in Mrs. Bloodworth’s classes, said the newly noted master teacher has “very high expectations” of herself and her pupils.
“She jumps in there and takes ownership of those children learning the material,” Ms. Hunter said. “She follows them after they’ve left middle school to make sure. She’s constantly asking how they’re doing because she wants to know if there’s something she could’ve done better.”
Principal Mike Culberson said he learned of Mrs. Bloodworth’s dedication early in his four years at the school.
“She is a dynamic teacher,” Mr. Culberson said. “She puts in more time than I could ever ask her to. She’s all about the kids,” he said.