Our Story
The Outstanding Mastery Guides (OMG's) were developed through the collaborative effort of Rhonda Davis, Darby Jochum, Leslie Hilderbrand and Robert Sheperd. Together they have 80+ years of math teaching experience. Several years ago, with school funding and resources limited, they were determined to find a simple, effective, and low cost way to help students retain information. Thus OMG's were born!
Initially, OMG's were used as a two week review tool to help students prepare for Georgia's CRCT standardized test. However, after the school demonstrated a 17% increase (67%-84%) in their scores, the authors decided to use the OMG's as a method of teaching throughout the school year. Today, OMG's are a way of life at the school. The authors were so excited about the effectiveness of this tool they felt other teachers would be interested in implementing the program too!
Initially, OMG's were used as a two week review tool to help students prepare for Georgia's CRCT standardized test. However, after the school demonstrated a 17% increase (67%-84%) in their scores, the authors decided to use the OMG's as a method of teaching throughout the school year. Today, OMG's are a way of life at the school. The authors were so excited about the effectiveness of this tool they felt other teachers would be interested in implementing the program too!
Our Authors
Rhonda Davis, M.Ed.
Rhonda was a math teacher for 32 years having recently retired. During that time she taught grades 6-8 collaborative, regular, and gifted math classes as well as language arts and reading. She currently volunteers teaching a high school math class for the International Baccalaureate program at Douglas County High School and continues to tutor students in math. She has a Masters Degree in Education.
Leslie Hilderbrand, Ed.S.
Leslie has been teaching for 20 years. She currently teaches regular, collaborative sixth and eighth grade math. She has also taught regular, collaborative, and advanced seventh grade math. She has a Masters Degree in Education and an Ed.S degree in Curriculum and Instruction.
Darby Jochum , Ed.S.
Darby has been teaching for 23 years. She currently teaches advanced and gifted seventh and eighth grade math as well as a 7 plus class. She has also taught regular, advanced, and collaborative 6th, 7th and 8th grade math, reading and language arts. She has a Masters Degree in Education and an Ed.S degree in Curriculum and Instruction.
Robert Sheperd, Ed.S.
Robert has been teaching for 19 years. He currently teaches 6th grade math and 7th grade collaborative math and regular math. He has also taught 6th grade collaborative, eighth grade regular math. He has a Masters Degree in Middle Grades Education and an Ed.S degree in Curriculum and Instruction.
Amy V. Gilbert, Ph.D.
Over the past 25 years Amy has taught elementary and middle school science. She recently completed her Ph.D. in Middle, Secondary, and Instructional Technology with a concentration in Science Education.
Beth Allyn Parker, Ph.D.
Beth has taught science for more than 27 years. She has taught both middle and high school students as well as trained science educators at the college level. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, a Masters in Science Education, and a Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction.
Pamela Hindman, M.Ed.
Pam taught for more than 21 years and just recently retires. She has a Bachelor of Science in Education, and a Masters in Educational Technology. She is certified to teach grades K-4 in all subjects, and is qualified to teach Social Studies, Science, and Language Arts in grades 4-8.