Tibby Fielding is pursuing a M.A.T. in Middle Grades English Language Arts. She is an avid hiker, surfer and outdoor enthusiast, and plans to use nature in her everyday lessons. Tibby taught English at Trident Technical College for three years; however, working with the James Simons Elementary Kaleidoscope program in downtown Charleston, SC, inspired her to make a career change. Currently, she works as a graduate assistant for Project Talentum Academe with Dr. Julie Swanson. The Talent Development Academy is funded by a Javits grant through the U.S. Department of Education and is presently serving two Title-1 elementary schools. In short, the grant focuses on implementing teacher professional development, culturally responsive teaching practices, growth mindset, and gifted education for all students.
Her current research focuses on fostering positive student-teacher relationships through holistic classroom practices. Some of these examples include journal writing, teacher-student mentoring, whole-group guided meditation, practicing mindfulness and implementing brain gym exercises in the classroom. She plans to serve the whole student when she has her own classes.
Tibby is currently President of the TEDU Graduate Education Organization (GEO). The GEO is a social and philanthropy group. This semester, with the help of the other officers, she has started a scholarship to sponsor Title-1 middle school students at the SMAART summer arts program (Students Mastering the Academic Arts) through CCSD Fine Arts. The GEO’s goal is to raise $5,000 and send 10 students to the program this summer.
Tibby is also a member of the 2015-2016 Teacher Leader program, which fosters the professional development of highly motivated students by providing them with challenging, extracurricular opportunities in the education community as well as a highly qualified mentor.
In the past, Tibby has been a volunteer research writer for Dr. Jennifer Barrett-Tatum leading to two publications in the field of education.
As a Teacher Leader, Tibby looks forward to gaining invaluable experiences, which she will utilize in the Charleston educational community with high hopes of making a difference in our educational system.
