Andrea Lakly: Teacher of The Year
Lakly, in her classroom during first period on Dec.14, 2018, leading a group discussion. Her senior AP Literature students are practicing for the AP exam by creating mock questions to quiz each other with. Photo Credit: Luke Wonderley
Dec 14, 2018
Andrea Lakly was selected as the McIntosh High School teacher of the year for the 2018-2019 school year, after accumulating sixteen years of teaching experience and several other teaching accolades. These include the teacher of the month award, the Chick-Fil-A second mile award, and the Janet Emig award. She teaches AP Literature for senior students, and College Preparatory English for her freshman students out of Room 105 on the English hall.
However, for her students, Lakly is more than just the teacher of the year. In a lot of ways, Lakly is an impactful teacher and guiding force in the McIntosh community. “I love Lakly!” said senior Kate Cullen. “She knows how stressful it can be to be a senior and she tries to make our lives easier as she educates us on English and our lives.”
Lakly is also very involved in the extracurricular activities at McIntosh. “All kinds of exciting things are going on on campus.” said Lakly. “I enjoy it all. I like doing the graduation speakers in the spring. I enjoy mentoring new teachers to McIntosh. I like helping with the freshman orientation camp in the summer.” On top of these activities, Lakly also sponsors the MisChief literary magazine, Rachel’s Challenge, and the American Sign Language (ASL) clubs.
When asked why she teaches, Lakly responded: “Because I love it. I love communication. I love people. I love interpretation. I love grey areas.“
Her love for educating and her compassion for her students is reflected in her classroom environment. “The class is relaxed and encouraging.” said Senior Catherine Quarles. Mrs. Lakly treats us like people, and I feel relieved when I come into this class. I know if I don’t understand what I’m doing, it’ll be explained to me, I’ll never be left hanging. She’s super cool and I love her. — Catherine Quarles
Lakly often does far more than she is required to for her students. Even after the school bell rings, signalling the end of the sixth period and the school day, she frequently stays after to talk with students about their work, or help them with their college admissions and essays. “I feel like I really get to know my students through their college essays” said Lakly. “I help with college essays because college is very important to my students. They’re really stressed and I get to help out.”
Lakly approaches teaching from a unique angle. “Before the first day of class, I was intimidated by the workload and other students.” said Senior Ashby Boland. “ On the first day of class, we walked in, and Lakly immediately offered us fruit punch and coffee. Then we got to stand up in a semi-circle and we all played a game to get to know each other better. Her teaching is really unique.”
When asked about her teaching style, Lakly responded with a smile: “This is barely controlled chaos. This is meeting students where they are and encouraging them to be more. It is working to articulate what it is that students could do that they can’t do yet. So that they will be able to do it better.” Her teaching style is different for her Seniors and Freshmen, however. “I let my seniors make a lot more mistakes.” said Lakly, “because they have a much higher tolerance for frustration. So, my freshmen need me to intervene earlier, but you know what, they both need the same amount of support.”
Lakly also has big plans for her class for the next semester of the 2018-2019 year. “We’re trying to get the Shakespeare Tavern to come and do Romeo and Juliet. We’re going to have some stage combat! We’re going to have some improv! We’re trying to work with the librarian at GSU to get our seniors some college library experience.” said Lakly. “I also want to do veteran’s day interviews next year.”
As for her other future plans, Lakly said simply, “I want to keep teaching! I’ve had people ask me if I want to go into counseling or administration or something like that but I think I would really miss having a classroom.”
