Gilmer County High School
May 23, 2023
Gilmer County High School has announced that Mrs. Monica Haley has been selected as the 2022-2023 GCHS Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Monica Haley has taught at Gilmer County High School for ten years, seven of those as a middle school science teacher and three as the home economics and cooking teacher.
“Honestly, I didn’t start out in teaching,” said Haley, “But I later realized that I wanted to go into teaching, and I had taken a lot of science classes. So, when I switched over, I did science education. I’ve always loved working with kids, so that’s how I got my start.” After earning her degree, Mrs. Haley spent the next fifteen years as a stay-at-home mother. Her husband was a major in the U.S. Marine Corps, so Haley spent a lot of time moving around. Haley's experience as a homemaker and traveler directly impacted her career trajectory, as exposure to a variety of cultures and cuisines led to an insatiable desire to embrace new ideas and experiment in the kitchen.
“Before, I knew how to cook some and do some little domestic things”, said Haley. But, once you’re a stay-at-home-mom, you have to learn how to do everything. You meet new people and new cultures. So I started cooking a lot.” After her husband retired from the military, Haley moved back to the place where it all began – Gilmer County – and began working as a permanent substitute at Gilmer County High School. Eventually, Mrs. Haley was hired as a middle school science teacher. However, when the opportunity arose to teach food, nutrition, and home economics, Haley seized it.
Over the past three years, Mrs. Haley has transformed the food and nutrition program into a place where children can learn essential skills for college-and-career readiness while simultaneously immersing themselves in cultural enrichment through a diverse selection of cuisine from many different ethnicities. Additionally, Students learn fundamental basics like sewing, child care, making roux and sauces, and cutting vegetables as well as advanced baking skills, plating, and competitive cooking. Her passion for passing on her knowledge and skills was inspired by her own journey as a homemaker who had to learn it all and as a mother who sought to teach her own children the requisite skills for adult life. “It doesn’t matter if you’re going to college or not” Haley said. “In this class, everyone starts in the same place. Everybody can learn to do these things. We all start on a level playing field.”
Mrs. Haley’s passionate belief that all children can learn is evident in the way in which her classroom is conducted. Students share responsibility with one another and work collaboratively to accomplish tasks within the kitchen. Such a student-centered approach fosters ownership and pride in the aspiring chefs in her classroom.
The future of the food and nutrition class appears quite bright, as Haley hopes to expand the already innovative farm-to-table approach by working in conjunction with the brand new meat processing facility. Currently, the program engages in a collaborative effort with the science department and the school’s summer school program to plant, harvest, and can fresh fruits and vegetables for use in the classroom. In the coming years, she hopes to grow this program to incorporate meat processing and agriculture-based education into her curriculum through a conjoined effort with our school’s agriculture education department.
Haley was honored by the selection by her peers, and expressed appreciation for the recognition. Staff members and administrators alike have noticed the substantial transformation of the program. "[Mrs. Haley] demonstrates extensive content knowledge and connects student learning to other content areas. “, said Nathan Haynes, the assistant principal of GCHS. “She always puts students learning as her priority and she has a great rapport with every student.”
Mrs. Haley will go on to compete at the county level competition for Gilmer County Teacher of the year.