The Peach State has named a new teacher of the year.
The Georgia Department of Education (GDOE) announced Friday that Jones County educator Charm Mapp has been named Georgia’s 2027 Teacher of the Year.
Mapp is an eighth-grade math teacher at Clifton Ridge Middle School in Macon. She has 23 years of experience in education, in which she has encouraged her students to “embrace curiosity, confidence, and a love for learning through authentic mathematical thinking.”
The middle school educator has mentored 19 student teachers, served as a partner-teacher liaison and has worked as a pre-education instructor at Georgia College & State University throughout the duration of her career, according to GDOE.
“It’s amazing to see over the course of the school year how students’ initial hesitancy transforms to shared empowerment as they encourage and validate the responses of their peers,” Mapp wrote in her application for the title.
“With our class number talks, I’m able to engage students from all backgrounds and levels of ability. … Very quickly, the walls of our classroom dissolve as our class begins to brainstorm the different types of people they would like to come share in a class number talk with us.”
She, along with the runner-up, social studies teacher Dr. Victor Fordham at Metter High School in Candler County, was one of 10 finalists under consideration for the honor.
The finalists were selected from a pool of applicants who were named teacher of the year by their respective districts earlier this school year, following a review by a panel that included past Georgia of the Year winners and finalists, as well as GDOE representatives.
“Charm Mapp makes mathematics come alive for her students through her classroom number talks and hands-on instruction,” Georgia Superintendent Richard Woods said in a Friday press release.
“I can’t wait to see how she advocates for students, teachers, and schools throughout her time as Georgia Teacher of the Year. I offer my sincere congratulations to all of our District Teachers of the Year and our outstanding group of top ten finalists, all of whom showcase the very best our public schools have to offer. I look forward to continuing to work closely with each of them as members of my Teacher Advisory Council,” he added.
Mapp will serve as an ambassador for the teaching profession in Georgia and will represent the state in the 2027 National Teacher of the Year competition.
