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David Fallaw takes Teacher of the Year for
Merriwether Middle for second time Edgefielddaily.com web posted August 26, 2005  MERRIWETHER
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Merriwether Elementary History teacher David Fallaw took the honor of
Teacher of the Year for a second time in 2005. Mr. Fallaw, who holds
Business and Teaching degrees from USC Aiken and a Masters in
Administration from Clemson, said he is starting his fifth year as a
teacher. He has taught at Merriwether Middle School for all five
years.Mr. Fallaw, who lives in the Johnston area, said he loves teaching South Carolina History and, “there are so many bright kids here,” he said and the parent involvement contributes to the success he, and the school, has in winning awards. “I have never had a time I requested something from a parent that I didn’t get a response,” he said. “One day,” Mr. Fallaw said, “I would like to move into administration, but for now I enjoy teaching.” He said he gets excited when his eighth grade students get excited. “You can tell when you have their full attention on something, and that is when I really get excited.” That excitement is “transferred” back and forth from teacher to student and back to the teacher. South Carolina History is the only subject he is interested in teaching, “I would probably be a poor geography teacher,” he said because he really enjoys South Carolina and local history and it shows in his teaching style. “On Fridays, if the class has been good all week, I tell ghost stories,” and links the story to locations. The children get interested in the story and begin asking questions and that leads to making learning history fun. “I don’t want to just teach dates, data, and facts and have them give that back to me on tests,” he said, “I love talking about some of the crazy, crazy stories that happened in the state.” Local history, he said, plays a big part of that because for so long Edgefield County was such a powerful area with ten Governors and five Lt. Governors as well as Congressmen. “I want them to learn about people and events and tie it all together so it makes sense,” he said, “The choices that were made in the past directed where we are today and I try to teach them that what they are doing today is making history in the choice they make. We can learn from that” Another thing he said he tells his students is, “I am looking at our future leaders, governors, congressmen, councilmen, mayors and other such leaders.” He said he wants to make history “come alive” and that they understand history is actually a series of choices people made and where those choices led. “I enjoy getting into the ‘what if’ things and we try to figure out how things would be different if different choices or events had taken place. I like to make it personal for them.” One thing he said that he learned that always comes to mind is, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Judging from his students and parents responses he cares a lot. After our interview had ended and we were standing in the office talking a parent opened the door to say how much she enjoyed the stories, “I get to hear al your stories,” she said as her child comes home every day to tell her what she had learned, “I just wanted to thank you for that,” she said. Mr. David Fallaw is well deserving of the Teacher of the Year award for MMS. Merriwether Middle School Principle Virginia Culberson said in her thirty eight years she has seen few teachers more dedicated, “Mr. Fallaw is a rare teacher indeed. He knows how to deliver the subject at hand and he makes it interesting for the children and makes them want to learn and they have the utmost respect for him.”
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