Patricia Pursley, fifth-grade teacher at Claxton Elementary School in Powell, has developed programs that spark her students' creativity and motivate them to learn. Ms. Pursley's innovative game, "RENOT," modeled after Bingo, enlivens the history curriculum and helps prepare students to compete at the annual county-wide Scholar's Bowl. During Black History Month, all of Claxton's social studies classes use the black history timeline that she developed, tracing the impact of slavery from the 1500's to present day. Since organizing the school's first safety patrol program in 1991, Ms. Pursley has worked with the Automobile Association of America of East Tennessee to improve the program, and each year chaperones a safety patrol trip to Washington, D.C.
1969 Savannah State University, B.A.
