Dawn Giles- Ayers was born on April 22, 1970. She was raised by her mom, the late Johnnie Giles. She started off at Waffle House. Her senior year right before she graduated in 1991 from Hinds Agricultural High School. She received a degree in social work in 1996 from Belhaven University. She got a concentration in English in 2008. She has taught English at Galloway Elementary School, Gary Road Intermediate School, Cardozo Middle School, and she currently teaches English I-IV at Christ Missionary and Industrial High School. She is a really nice woman who works really hard to make sure students get what they come for, an education. Currently, she’s at Belhaven for her PhD. Losing her mother inspired her to teach because her mother taught at Terry High School for…show more content… Ayers started off wanting to be a social worker until she was traumatized by her mother’s death. So, she went back to school all over again to keep her mother’s “legacy” going. She comes from a family of school-teachers. In fact, most of her aunts, cousins, and sisters are teachers, but in different subject areas ranging from math to science even to human growth and development. Realizing that she has to fulfil the family “legacy” of education, She is going to go back to school for her Doctoral Degree. In fact, Ayers likes the title of “Dr. Ayers” more than anything. She recognizes that while no teacher preparation program can fully get a new teacher ready for a classroom, she feels her program did a good job. “Generally, my program was one that required working in a high school for the whole year rather than a quick course at the end,” Ayers said. “I was able to gradually become more involved in my students’ classes before I took over the classes as a student-teacher.” Finally, after graduating and earning her bachelor’s degree in English education, Ayers taught her first class- an experience that still sticks with her years