David Ragsdale

About David Ragsdale

David A. Ragsdale (UGA B.S.Ed. ’01, M.Ed. ’03, Ed.S.\'09), CJE, has advised student publications since 2001 at Clarke Central H.S. in Athens, Ga, where his duties include advising the ODYSSEY Media Group and Iliad literary-art magazine. Additionally, he serves as Co-Department Chair of the English department at CCHS, coordinates student internships with the University of Georgia, serves as Gifted Coordinator, and teaches English at the Title I school. He has spent numerous summers teaching at the Georgia Governor\'s Honors Program for the state\'s top gifted and talented students. Ragsdale\'s students have received top honors in critiques and competitions across the country. Ragsdale received the Crystal Apple Award, an honor given to University of Georgia alumni in K-12 education who have made a significant impact on student, school, or school district performance in 2007. He was named an ASNE Reynolds High School Journalism Fellow in 2014, an Elizabeth Dickey Distinguished Service Award recipient by the Southern Interscholastic Press Association in 2015, and named a Columbia Scholastic Press Association Distinguished Adviser in 2019. He served on UGA’s College of Education’s Alumni Board for several years and currently serves on the National Council of Teachers of English’ REALM committee, as the Journalism Education Association’s State Director for Georgia, and as the Southern Interscholastic Press Association’s Executive Committee Chair and on the Georgia Scholastic Press Association Advisory Board. Ragsdale was the GSPA Adviser of the Year in 2007 and 2020. He began service as the Journalism Education Association State Director for Georgia in 2020.Ragsdale advocates a stance of student inquiry in his work and seeks to provide a safe place for students to not only succeed but to also fail. He seeks to empower students to recognize the implicit and explicit import of their words and to engage them in masterful storytelling.Goals: Seeks to empower student writers and to engage students in critical thinking and metacognition.Specialties: Writing instruction, peer negotiation, student publication advisory, leadership training, public speaking and facilitation. Google Certified Educator, Level 1. Gifted Education Endorsement.

Experience

1. English Department Co-chair

   Clarke Central High School

   Jul 2014 — Present

   English Department Co-Chair, Clarke Central High School, Athens, GA, 2014-presentFacilitated the general areas of program maintenance, development and improvement, teacher supervision, department coordination, and the integration of ELA content area into a total school program. Conducted bi-annual teacher observations and provided feedback, presented professional learning within the department and for ELA teachers within the Clarke County School.

Education

• The University of Georgia

  M.Ed, Language and Literacy Education

  2002 — 2003

• Northeast Georgia Regional Education Agency

  Gifted Certification, Gifted Education

  2003 — 2005

• The University of Georgia

  BS ED, English Education

  1994 — 2001

• The University of Georgia

  Ed.S, English Education

  2007 — 2009