Cherie Goldman & Matt Taylor
National Conference in Atlanta • March 22-25, 2023
Featured Speakers
Educator Burnout
Empowering All to Bring About Change
Friday, March 24 • 9:20-10:20 AM
Speakers: Cherie Goldman and Matt Taylor
About the Session
Tackling burnout requires intentional reflection and actionable solutions. How can we bring about change to elevate educators? Walk with us through Teacher Burnout in Georgia and initiatives launched across the state in response. Leave with a “tool kit” for addressing burnout and confronting the real challenge of recruitment and retention.
Cherie Goldman
Cherie Goldman is the 2022 Georgia Teacher of the Year. Now In her thirteenth year of teaching, Goldman is a teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at Hesse K-8 in the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS).In 2021, Goldman was selected as the 2021 SCCPSS District Teacher of the Year. As Georgia Teacher of the Year, Goldman led the Georgia Department of Education’s Teacher Burnout Taskforce, working with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia to publish the taskforce’s findings and recommendations, Teacher Burnout in Georgia: Voices from the Classroom. At Hesse, Goldman is a steadfast advocate for her students, teaching with an unwavering commitment to creating spaces founded on lovingkindness, empathy, and positivity. She serves on the leadership team and the professional development team and chairs the school-wide writing team, in addition to being the ESOL team lead and the Site-based Induction Specialist. Beyond the scope of her school, Goldman is a member of the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools Literacy Taskforce, the Georgia Association of Teacher Educators Executive Committee, and the Board of Visitors for Mercer University’s College of Education.
Goldman holds a bachelor’s degree in Japanese and a minor in teaching from Georgetown University, a master’s degree in East Asian Studies from Stanford University, and a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Armstrong Atlantic State University. She also holds an education specialist degree in Teacher Leadership from Mercer University along with Gifted, ESOL, and Coaching Endorsements. Before teaching, Goldman worked in advertising for global agencies Saatchi & Saatchi and DDB.
Matt Taylor
With a bachelor’s degree from Middle Georgia College, Matt Taylor started his career at Susie Dasher Elementary where he taught for five years. Throughout those five years, he taught fourth and fifth grade math and science, received his gifted endorsement, science endorsement, served on both the school leadership team and governing council, presented at the Georgia Science Teachers Conference, and was an active member of the Dublin Exchange Club. During his fifth year, he received his master’s degree from Georgia College and State University and transferred to Southwest Laurens Elementary.
During the five years at Southwest Laurens, Taylor taught fifth grade math and science, served as a Junior Beta Club sponsor, served on the Building Leadership Team, Gifted Committee, LCSS Math Adoption Committee, LCSS District Alignment Team, and LCSS Aspiring Leaders Team. He was named the 2022 Teacher of the Year for his school, and district, and a finalist for the state of Georgia. He also was a recipient of My Teacher is Tops, served as a Keynote Speaker at PAGE’s Future Educators Day at Valdosta State University, and served on the Teacher Burnout Task Force with the Georgia Department of Education working on reimagining education with an emphasis on how educators can be uplifted, heard, and supported. Taylor has now returned to where his educational roots began in Dublin City Schools where he is humbled to serve as the assistant principal of the Irish Gifted Academy for students pre-K through eighth grade.