Currently, I am in my 32nd year as a Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools educator. During those 32 years, I taught all subjects in grades three and five, and for three years I was a facilitator at Hornets Nest Elementary. For the past five years, I've taught third grade, and I love it!
To challenge myself and to further my learning in education, I became a National Board Certified teacher and recently renewed that certification. In the same year, I earned my Masters of Education degree from Montreat College.
A loving family structure was established by my late grandparents, James and Eugenia Donaldson of Davidson. Today, our extended family continues to keep their legacy of love through all the generations of the Donaldson clan. My innovative son, G. Cortez Brown, II is an academic basketball coach at Beckley Prep Academy in Beckley, West Virginia. I'm so proud of the way he teaches and leads his players to build their skills across the areas of their lives -- socially, emotionally, academically, spiritually, and morally -- as they prepare for achieving their goals and aspirations. As his mother, I'm honored to see his communication and leadership abilities at work, as he places his players into Division I colleges and universities.
Education was extremely important in my home from my earliest memories. I grew up in a close-knit community, in an era where prestigious Black men and women were teachers, small business owners, and principal. They held themselves and us to high standards, and showed respect for all families and their community. My mother, Hattie Mae Donaldson Johnson, was a teacher; my father, James E. Johnson, was sole proprietor of Jack's Barber Shop in Denver, North Carolina. Naturally, education became extremely important to me.
Early in life, I would go with my mother to her part-time job in Barium Springs, which is where my love for teaching became embedded. My duties were to set out the students' napkins, snacks, and milk. After their snacktime, I would read a book to them. May I remind you, I was still in elementary school myself. But I felt like an empowered leader responsible for my group to comprehend and talk about events, and to enjoy the stories I read to them. This is when I realized I was destined to be a teacher.
Daily I'm reminded of that destiny, when students I have taught continue to reach out to me for hugs in the halls, or as they go to their buses. Then I run into young adult students that I taught during their elementary years, and they say, "Ms. Brown, you were my third- or fifth-grade teacher," and reach for their hugs, and thank me, and describe their successes to me. Most importantly, I see the fruits of that destiny when I've worked diligently and collectively with students, parents, and colleagues to help my students show excellent growth throughout the year and on End-of-Grade tests. All of these moments validate why I was gifted by God with the love of teaching.
I remember Mrs. Kelsey, a professor in the Livingstone College Education Department, who introduced us to NEA -- the National Education Association -- of which she was a member. How empowering it made me feel about being a teacher, to hear the benefits of belonging to my professional organization, and I immediately enrolled.
Over these many years, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Association of Educators and the North Carolina Association of Education has lifted my educational platform to levels unimaginable as it pertains to leadership, advocacy, and encouraging and representing members in various capacities of Association leadership. As I converse with non-members, early career educators, and potential members, I'm proud to give voice to the great benefit of standing up for public schools, students, parents, communities, and our profession.
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