About Debbie Gathmann

I am Debbie Gathmann, M.Ed.,and have taught in preschools and elementary schools in the metro Atlanta area for over 31 years. I directed a non-profit private school in West Georgia for ten years and was the curriculum coordinator for the YWCA for three years. My degree is from Georgia State with a Masters in British Infant Schooling, which is very similar to the Reggio Emilia style of teaching. I have a daughter working at the Atlanta Food Bank in funds development and a son who is a senior at Druid Hills High School. We live in the East Lake Commons Co-Housing community. I am involved in a folk-singing group, a Scrabble-players group, and work with Gaia Gardens, an organic farm in DeKalb County.

My current hobbies are legend--I am interested in just about everything.  My family has spent years building and designing a telescope out in Rockdale county and we get all kinds of astronomy magazines.  We love tiny little frogs and have spent years collecting data on them for the Citizen Science program at Cornell.  I am an avid bird watcher, a gardener, and have spent much time learning about the watershed, even taking courses in watershed management.  I am learning to knit (not so well, yet) and learning three new holiday songs on the piano.  Naturally, I'm also learning how to do content for a website (never thought I'd say that . . .). I have come into the digital age, recently, in the purchase of a new laptop and a new digital camera.  I have actually learned how to add contacts to my cell phone, recently!  I am taking classes this quarter in singing, dog-training, working in a multi-age classroom, and watershed management.  My vacation this year will be in Ecuador and so I'm learning Spanish a little bit at a time.   Basically, life is a banquet . . .