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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAside from her work in the classroom, Tatum said she has goals to expand her leadership in the school and become a mentor for other new teachers. Her first year as a teacher was the first year many students had been in the classroom since kindergarten, and Tatum said her own mentors were integral to her success in that challenging environment. She said she has grown in flexibility, empathy, and communication since that first year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTaking on new projects or being able to help other teachers to grow \u2014 that\u2019s something that I\u2019d like to work toward \u2014 being in a position where I feel capable of doing that,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cI know that my mentors my first couple of years were so critical to me and my ability to do what I was doing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teaching is one of many serving roles Tatum has jumped into. She also became a registered foster parent under much the same circumstances. Tatum said she felt convicted that she had extra and wasn\u2019t using it, and some weeks later, she was in classes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKnowing that there\u2019s so much need for that and knowing that I have the extra to do it, I was just really called into that,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t something I could necessarily say no to.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a teacher and the oldest of four, Tatum knew she had a gift for supporting children. She jumped right in as she\u00a0had the space in her life for fostering. She said it\u2019s not worth acting out of fear or anxiety when you have the chance to do good.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m of the personal belief that if you are hearing from the Lord and you\u2019re feeling an impulse to do something, you\u2019re obligated to do it and do it with enthusiasm and quickly,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cIf we ignore our impulses to do good, and we ignore our impulses to connect with other people, then no one will grow, and no one will benefit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tatum said her impulsiveness has caused some pain in her life, but ultimately, she considers it a gift. After all, if everyone ignored their impulses to do good, no one would benefit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhether you go to church, or whether you believe in the Lord or not, when you\u2019re feeling an impulse to do something helpful and to do something good and to do something that can show love to someone else in a really impactful way, there\u2019s nothing to be afraid of,\u201d Tatum said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the world has a lot of brokenness, Tatum said she wants people to look at it and figure out how to restore it together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe hope is unity of the city. The hope is that we can be a city of good neighbors and people who help each other,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cHow do we all unite together to be supportive of one another, love one another, and be good neighbors despite our differences and our situation.\u201d GN <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TEACHERS ARE the backbone of any community, and a shining example of Lynchburg City Schools\u2019 hard-working staff is kindergarten teacher Ryleigh Tatum. Tatum is in her third year at Robert S. Payne Elementary School, having taught second grade for two years before moving to kindergarten. Tatum said her goals aren\u2019t necessarily academic. She has worked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":20597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/lynchburg-va\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/12\/2-4-1024x683.png\")
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