Georgia Public Broadcasting Education does more to serve the pre-kindergarten community than air quality programming from PBS Kids and other child-friendly program providers. We also improve the quality of education pre-school aged children receive by conducting trainings for parents and caregivers across the state. These trainings, sponsored by the PBS Ready To Learn program, equip those who care for young children to better meet their needs in terms of both traditional and television literacy.
GPB's Ready To Learn consultants bring to this work a wide array of experiences in the educational arena that uniquely positions them to meet the varying needs of communities statewide. The consultants do a lot of work with service organizations for underprivileged children, such as Head Start, in order to ensure that all of Georgia's children have an equal opportunity to learn when they begin school - regardless of their parents' income level. Additionally, GPB Education employs bilingual consultants, extending the reach of the Ready To Learn program's benefits to Spanish as well as English-speaking caregivers and children. Read on to learn a little bit about a few of our Ready To Learn consultants and the work that they do in communities near you.
Marilyn Armstrong - Macon
Marilyn has over 20 years experience as an elementary school teacher in Georgia. Over the course of her career, Marilyn has served as GALAXY Mentor for kindergarten teachers statewide, language arts department chair, school liaison to HeadStart, and co-developer of Bibb County's kindergarten language arts instructional alignment. As a Ready To Learn consultant, Marilyn serves children and caregivers in the Macon area by providing trainings on early literacy.
Mercedes Gutierrez - Marietta
Mercedes, who serves as Ready To Learn consultant for the Marietta and metro-Atlanta area, extends the reach of her services by conducting trainings in both English and Spanish. With experience as a pre-school educator, social worker, and Spanish language interpreter, Mercedes is well positioned to meet the literacy needs of the diverse community she serves.
Lauretta Kloer - Lawrenceville/Gwinnett County
Lauretta has over 16 years of teaching experience at the elementary school level and is a certified teacher of English to Students of Other Languages (ESOL). Her experience with adult education as an InTech trainer at Kennesaw State University makes her doubly qualified to conduct trainings for the parents and caregivers of pre-school children. Her additional experience as an instructional technology specialist better enables her to promote technology literacy.
Kathy McCollister - Savannah
Kathy has worked in the field of early childhood education for more than 20 years. During that time she has served not only as a classroom teacher, but also as a trainer of early childhood professionals. Throughout her career, Kathy has focused on both media literacy and creative play, both of which are fostered through GPB Education's Ready To Learn program.
Rachel Wester - Waycross
Rachel, who has been an early childhood educator for 10 years, embraces PBS Kids and Ready To Learn not only professionally, but also for use in her own home. She has a strong sense of the importance of literacy skills early on in a child's education and relies on quality education programming such as PBS Kids' Between the Lions and Reading Rainbow to help instill a love of reading in children.
If you would like to schedule a Ready To Learn training for parents or caregivers in your area, contact GPB Education's Laura Miller at lmiller@gpb.org or (404) 685-2521.
