By Margaret Schell


C harm Mapp (’03, ’06, ’10), always knew that she wanted to be an educator, and after two decades on the job, she has been named the Jones County, Georgia, 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year. 

“I fell in love working with middle-school-age kids,” said Mapp, who teaches eighth-grade math at Clifton Ridge Middle School, where she’s worked for the past 22 years. “I wanted to help them through their struggles.”

Mapp earned her bachelor's, master's and education specialist degrees from Georgia College & State University. She is on track to earn her fourth degree, a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, in spring 2027.

More than Numbers


Mapp discovered her passion for teaching middle-school-age kids while working at the Youth Detention Center’s personnel office in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia, where the administrators knew she wanted to become a teacher. They authorized Mapp to work receptions for the teens housed there. Then, Mapp moved into the classroom to observe the students.

She looked for colleges in the state that offered a middle-grades teacher education program and noticed GCSU was highly ranked.

As a student at GCSU, Mapp welcomed the challenges presented by her professors, particularly Drs. Rui Kang, Karynne Klein and Adam Whitaker, who she says forced her out of her comfort zone.

“My professors’ critical feedback, and making time to review assignments with me, was the support I needed to push myself,” she said.

Her professors also taught her how to think critically, which Mapp strives to pass on to her students daily, as lead teacher of her school’s gifted program.

“I try to get students out of the mindset of focusing on the right numerical answer,” she said. “I encourage them to bring their real-life experiences into the classroom.”

From there, they discuss how math is involved.

For example, each year the eighth-grade students take a field trip to the local high school, where they explore the various career pathways available to them with Mapp discussing how math plays into each.

“We have thought-provoking conversations about what each student’s life looks like beyond school,” Mapp said. “This is a very real concept with eighth graders, because when they register for high school, they’re registering for a pathway and faced with thinking about what they want to do in life.”

Leading the Change


The biggest challenge of Mapp’s career has also been the most impactful. Her school needed a lead teacher for the gifted students. However, her qualifications didn’t match the role.

“I didn’t want to teach gifted students because I felt like those struggling students needed me more,” Mapp said. “I never worked with students on the other end of the spectrum.”

Completing the gifted endorsement training, however, shifted her perspective.

“That made me evaluate myself and my teaching strategies,” she said. “While it's important to challenge my students, I also want to make sure they're supported.”

To achieve that goal, Mapp meets monthly with a fellow gifted lead teacher to discuss what is and isn’t working at their schools, leads professional development sessions for colleagues and tailors programs to their students. Mapp has seen this sort of individualized attention to student success pay off — most recently when she watched a former student graduate with her doctoral degree.

“I still have [the student’s] voicemail from when she was on her way to college,” Mapp said. “She said, ‘I'm going to be a teacher just like you.’ And she did. Plus, she taught my daughter who also plans to major in education.”

Header Image: Charm Mapp is with her husband, James; daughter, Trinity; and son, Daniel, when she was named 2025 Jones County Teacher of the Year. (Photo: The Jones County News)