Educator Named Fulton Central Learning Community's Teacher of the Year

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SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- Riverwood International Charter School teacher Celeste Archer has been named the Teacher of the Year for Fulton County School's Central Learning Community.

Archer began her teaching career in Cuthbert, a small city in southwest Georgia.

She taught ninth grade remedial reading and 10th grade English to students who were bussed from as far as 35 miles each way. Archer recounts that as a novice teacher, her students changed her life, helping her to see why teaching is the most important job in the world.

She currently teachers in Riverwood's English department. Archer has an undergraduate degree in English and women’s studies from Emory University, and a master of arts in teaching from the University of Phoenix.

She has worked/studied at some of the most prestigious schools in the United States, including Randolph Clay Middle High School, South Atlanta School of Law and Social Justice and, of course, Riverwood International Charter School.

On her experience as a Raider teacher, Archer said her "education is continual, and I learn amazing things every day from the best teachers in the world."

Regarding her teaching philosophy, Archer believes that "it is the primary responsibility of the teacher to build loving, honest, open relationships with students to help them embrace uncertainty with bravery, loss with grace, and oppression with righteous indignation."

"I think that teaching is about engaging students in the monumental task of thinking, something that is fraught with ambiguity and requires embracing the unknown and the unknowable," she added.

Archer has taught at Riverwood for four years. In addition to working with a community of teachers, staff, and administrators whom she respects, Archer says she is in awe of her incredible students from whom she learns daily.

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Image via Riverwood International Charter School