8J Wednesday, February 27, 2013

DQG*25'21&2817<1(:6
ment at the Dispatch
was covering the newly
formed Committee of
Adult Education. I still
have the photo I took for
the article, she said.
Brooks said that
the newspaper closed
in 1989 on Halloween
night.
In 1990 Brooks was
told of a part time
position as an Adult
Education instructor at
Coosa Valley Technical
College (now GNTC)
by good friend Brenda
Williams. Brooks held
her first classes in the
old hospital building on
Pine Street.
Little did I know
when I took that picture
of the Adult Education
Committee that Id one
day be working for
them, she said.
After about a year
on Pine Street I suggest-
ed another location to
accommodate more peo-
ple. We moved to the
Gordon Hills Shopping
Center for a time. Funds
were raised donations
and tremendous support
came for the program
until CVTC was able to
build a satellite cam-
pus here in 1997. The
Adult Education stu-
dents were the first to
attend the new college
in July of 1997. Weve
been there ever since.
Ive seen peoples
lives change through
this program. They come
in and theyre so unsure
of themselves. But when
the students start learn-
ing you see the meta-
morphosis take place,
Brooks said.
Several have gone
on to earn college
degrees. I love these
students and the friend-
ships I have gained over
the years. I love watch-
ing the light bulb come
on!
Five years ago I
started thinking about
retiring. My husband
had retired in 1992 and
we still live on the farm.
I went to Atlanta and
talked with TRS. I love
teaching but I was tired
of the regimented struc-
ture with education,
the paperwork, deal-
ing with negatives, the
budget process. It was
a hard decision for me
but I knew I was burn-
ing out, Brooks said.
Brooks is working
on the next chapter of
her life by spending
more time on writing.
At present she is writ-
ing her fathers history
and also meets with a
few writing friends to
share ideas and encour-
agement. My mother
Joanne Colligan Emert
and father met in WWII
in Washington D.C. She
was a marine and he was
in the Army - they mar-
ried three weeks later
and celebrated 67 years
of marriage before he
passed away two years
ago. It is a great love
story.
Brooks plans to con-
tinue her literary voice
through column writing,
writing workshops and
expanding her person-
al goals for writing. Of
course shes looking for-
ward to spending more
time with her family on
the farm and traveling.
This is my philos-
ophy: Everyone needs
to set realistic positive
goals, she said.
Once reached, new
goals need to be set. My
goal in the last third of
my life is to broaden my
horizons by spending
more time with my fam-
ily, writing, traveling,
and laughing...a lot.
%URRNV
Continued From Page 4J
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movie theatres she was
teaching piano lessons.
When she turned 15
she joined a rock band
playing the keyboard. The
band played gigs on the
weekend to earn money.
She also met her husband
in the band, who played
bass and sang.
Little said her parents
were very diligent in push-
ing her to going to school,
so, since she loved music
and already had the idea
that she wanted to be a
teacher, the decision was
clear for her.
Little got her
Associates degree from
Albany Junior College,
Bachelor of Science in
education from Georgia
Southwestern College
with a concentration in
music education, Master
of Education in special
education from Albany
State College with a con-
centration in interre-
lated special education
and Master of Fine Arts
in creative writing from
Spalding University with
a concentration in fic-
tion.
Her husband went to
law school in Macon. After
he finished his degree he
got a job in Dalton and
they moved, but Little
wasnt able to start out
as a music teacher in the
beginning.
When I got out of
college they werent hir-
ing music teachers. They
would hire one music
teacher that went to like
three or four schools,
and we came here there
werent any music teach-
er jobs, so I got a job in
special education and I
did that for a couple of
years, Little said.
She worked in the
Dalton area as a special
education teacher for six
years until she got a call
from the Gordon County
School system offering
her the job at Belwood
and Red Bud, where she
received Teacher of the
Year in 1993, and was a
finalist in System Wide
Teacher of the Year.
Little said she enjoyed
teaching little kids, and
fourth and fifth grade was
her favorite, but she got
offered a job teaching
middle school and wanted
to see what that was like.
After being at
Ashworth for three years
she said Michael Clark,
the current band direc-
tor at CHS offered a job
teaching middle and high
school.
I always wondered
if I would enjoy doing
high school, but I was
kind of scared, Little
said. I wouldnt do it any
other way, working from
elementary kids to high
school kids. I think if I
would have started out in
high school it would have
scared me to death.
Even with the fear that
Little had from teaching
high school students she
did rather well with the
Literary and One Act pro-
grams she was in charge
of.
Little was Music
Director for Region One
Act Champion in 2009 and
Director for Region One
Act Champion in 2006.
She was Literary
Coordinator for Region
Literary Event Champion
in 2002, 03, 05, 07, 08
and 10. She was Literary
Coordinator for State
Runner-up in Literary
Events in 2010 and
Literary Coordinator for
State Literary Events
Champion in 2005.
Though she was suc-
cessful, she does credit
some of that to an English
teacher who influenced
her.
I hung with her and
played the piano and the
music for a few years and
then when she left I took
over. So, I had a good
teacher and I enjoyed it a
lot, said Little.
She was in charge of
the trio, quartet and solo-
ist while at Calhoun, and
in 2009 the boys quartet
won the state champion-
ship for the first time in
CHS history.
That was real cool
because we never did
that before, and thats a
real competitive thing
but people dont know
because you dont have
thousands of people com-
ing to watch like at foot-
ball, but its highly com-
petitive, Little said.
Little retired from CHS
in 2010, but just because
she retired does not mean
she has slowed down by
any means.
She received her
Master of Fine Arts in
creative writing while
she was in her last year
at CHS, and she started
writing her first book
Water Under the Bridge,
A Family Saga, which
Little said is a working
title and could be changed
before it is published.
The book is a family
saga told by multiple nar-
rators, and multi-genera-
tional. It starts in the late
40s and ends in the 80s.
[the book's] about the
trials and tribulations of
a farming family in south
Georgia, which the setting
for it is exactly where I
came from but the charac-
ters are totally made up,
Little said. The setting is
the Flint River in south
Georgia at the Florida
line. Its fiction but its
about my home place,
because my father was a
farmer and I grew up on
a farm.
After she retired Little
said she really refined the
book and then went and
found her an agent. The
agent then found a pub-
lisher that was interested,
and since then the book
has been in the editing
process and is expected
to be in print this year.
Now that Little is play-
ing the waiting game with
the book she has started
writing another one that
is more of a girly book.
Ive always been a big
reader and when I was
a kid I had asthma and
it's really hot in south
Georgia in the summers,
and I couldnt go outside,
so I would read 200 books
every summer, Little
said.
When she began think-
ing she could write she
followed her intuition,
and the people that have
read the book said she
did well.
Little still has a pas-
sion for teaching and in
April she did a long-term
substitution position
for the music teacher at
Calhoun Primary, who
was one of Littles stu-
dents from kindergarten
until eighth grade.
Along with the Calhoun
Primary music teacher,
Little also taught the cho-
rus teacher at Ashworth,
Sonoraville and Calhoun
Elementary.
It makes me feel
wonderful to see the kids
I taught doing something
in the field, Little said.
Some days its like you
are going through the
motions and think why
do we do this? And then
you see those people (the
ones you taught) doing
the same thing and doing
it well. Its like everyday
you wondered if it was
worth it, it was, cause look
it keeps going.
The thing that worries
Little the most is the fund-
ing that is being cut from
the arts program, and the
future of arts education.
If the programs in
the schools achieve more
and more, like if we win
championships and we
get asked to go back and
do more things that can
tend to cost more, and you
have to put money behind
it; you've got to get a bus,
hotel rooms, you have to
buy costumes and all that
stuff."
When I was teach-
ing in high school there
were certain kids I knew
that would have dropped
out if it werent for the
arts program. You have
to have things. Sports
arent for everyone, and
then there are some kids
that are right on the line
and dont understand why
they are at school any-
ways, added Little.
She always tried to
motive students as much
as she could towards
musical or creative
adventures. She had a lot
of students who played
in bands and she would
go see them at events to
show her support.
A lot of people think
thats garbage and they
(students) are wasting
there time, and its not. It
might not be what you do
for a living, but its some-
thing that you will wind
up doing and enjoy doing
for the rest of your life,
Little said.
The most important
aspect of teaching to
Little was the relation-
ships and connections she
built with the students,
and watching them grow
into adults.
She makes it a point
to stay in touch with her
students after graduation.
She said she has 1,100
Facebook friends and out
of all of them she didnt
teach 150.
I think people that
have a creative side
that comes from within,
I think those people are
less likely to be horribly
depressed, Little said.
I think having a creative
outlet has made my over
all way I look at life a lot
better.
/LWWOH
Continued From Page 3H
Elaine Little stands with students after a performance of a Calhoun High School
production of Willy Wonka
Brooks took this photo of the first board of Adult Education in Calhoun while she
worked for the Calhoun News Dispatch.