A Conversation with Lisa Guilbeau on Transforming Teacher Retention
What if the answer to our nation’s teacher shortage wasn’t recruiting more teachers—but keeping the ones we have? In this episode, we discover how one innovative program is cutting teacher turnover in half by wrapping new educators in a circle of support so comprehensive it transforms their entire career trajectory. Spoiler alert: it starts with believing in them from day one.
About Our Guest
Lisa Guilbeau serves as the TAPP (Teacher Advancement Program) Director at the Central Savannah River Regional Education Service Agency (CSRA-RESA), where she leads initiatives designed to attract, develop, and retain exceptional educators. Drawing from her own experience as a classroom teacher who once questioned her calling, Lisa brings both expertise and profound empathy to her work supporting beginning teachers through their critical first years.
What You’ll Learn
Discover why traditional teacher certification often fails our newest educators—and how the TAPP program’s innovative model of ongoing mentorship, peer collaboration, and systematic feedback is rewriting the retention story in Georgia and beyond. Through Lisa’s passionate insights, you’ll explore the spiritual calling at the heart of teaching, the real barriers beginning teachers face, and the practical systems that actually work to build confidence, competence, and commitment.
Key Takeaways
✓ The Power of Genuine Circle Support: Beginning teachers who receive continuous feedback and encouragement from multiple mentors experience dramatically higher retention rates and professional growth
✓ Redefine Expertise: You don’t need to be a middle school math expert to teach middle school math—what matters is understanding teaching methodology and instructional strategies that work across content areas
✓ The First-Year Crisis Is Real: Many passionate educators want to quit within their first few years, not because they lack calling, but because they lack the right support system
✓ Teaching as Sacred Work: When we honor teaching as a fundamental human calling—one Jesus himself chose—we shift how we recruit, support, and retain educators
✓ Systemic Solutions Over Individual Heroics: The answer to teacher burnout isn’t grit; it’s building structures of accountability, mentorship, and community that sustain careers for decades
Notable Quotes
“If that is your heart, then you’re gonna—we’re gonna walk right beside you through this whole process. We’re gonna help you, encourage you, we’re gonna build the confidence that you need.”
“They’re basically getting this huge circle of support with ongoing feedback from so many people, which is another reason I love our TAPP program because, traditionally, you don’t get that full circle of support.”
“I know the Lord called me there, but there were times when I wanted to give up.”
“Out of all the professions that God chose for his own son, Jesus, teaching was the one… teaching was that primary purpose.”
Ready to transform teacher retention in your district? Listen now to discover the actionable strategies Lisa Guilbeau and CSRA-RESA are using to cut turnover in half—and to be reminded why supporting our teachers is one of the most important investments we can make in our schools and communities.
Subscribe to stay connected with insights and conversations designed to help education leaders build stronger, more resilient schools.sations designed to help education leaders build stronger, more resilient schools.
FULL PODCAST Transcript
Lighthouse Therapy (00:00.814)
Hello everyone and welcome to the Brighter Together podcast. My name is Janet Courtney and my special guest today is Lisa Guilbeau. Lisa is the TAPP director and I’m gonna let her tell you what that is at Central Savannah River Regional Education Service Agency in Deering, Georgia. And I know there’s an acronym for that, RISA. but Lisa, welcome to the show.
Lisa Guilbeau (00:26.051)
Thank you, I’m excited to be here Janet.
Lighthouse Therapy (00:28.82)
Awesome. So tell us what a TAPP director does and give us a little bit of your background and a little bit about the resale.
Lisa Guilbeau (00:36.131)
Sure. So I’ve taught for 25 years and for five years I was an administrator and then I retired in 2022 or so I thought I retired. And so I just three months after starting working with the Georgia TAPP program, which that stands for the Teacher Academy of Preparation and Pedagogy. So
For two years I was a TAPP supervisor and then these last two years I’ve been the TAPP director. And basically the TAPP program is where we are, you can enter the TAPP program if you decide that you want to be a teacher and you have that’s your calling or your passion and you are in another career. So we shift you from your career
to the classroom and to enter the program you have to have a bachelor’s degree and it can be in anything. Then you decide, okay, this is what I want to teach. I want to teach math, middle school. And then what we look at is some acceptance with transcripts, things like that. We do an interview. What else? You also have to take the GACE content assessment.
Now, we’re governed by the PSC in Atlanta, the Professional Standards Commission in Atlanta, Georgia. And I love being governed and having rules that we follow that keep us accountable. And the GACE content, when you graduate from the TAPP program and achieve your teaching certification in the state of Georgia,
you have to have passed the GACE content assessment. So if you’re that passionate middle school math person, before you graduated, you had to take the GACE and pass that. Well, some of our candidates when I started were not, they had not passed that assessment yet. They were working towards passing it in addition to doing the TAPP program coursework that we provide.
Lisa Guilbeau (03:00.557)
So that was one thing that I was pretty passionate about. I wanted our candidates to, of course, they have the bachelor’s degree and they had the interview and fulfilled all the requirements, but they had to pass that GACE content assessment because we teach them pedagogy, how to teach. I can’t teach them middle school math because you can ask my high school geometry teacher.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:00.91)
Okay.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:24.014)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:29.23)
That’s great.
Lisa Guilbeau (03:29.695)
And she would say, one of my college professor would say, please Lord, do not let her teach math. you know, I, but I know teaching and I know instructional strategies. So that, you know, made me feel good about that change. And it’s worked out really well because what we don’t want is that passionate middle school math teacher that can never pass that gaze.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:56.494)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Guilbeau (03:57.515)
And then they’ve spent money and got gone through the program, but yet they cannot get their certification. But most important to me is that they have taught children middle school math without the content that they need for our kids to be successful in life. So that’s how you get into the TAPP program. And so once you have your GACE assessment, then you secure a teaching job.
And when you go for an interview, they’re going to say, well, are you enrolled at a university to get your certification? Maybe you’re getting a master’s degree or our pathway is quicker. It’s less expensive. You’re not getting a degree, but you are getting your Georgia certification.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:49.102)
But they already have, they have a degree already, right? Cause you said that to be any. So tell me for the GACE, it like, um, every area, like it’s just, you have to have knowledge in a bunch of different areas or is it specifically directed? Cause I don’t know. Um, I remember taking a national exam that I had to take to be a teacher of the speech and hearing impaired in New York 25 years ago. No, it’s been 32 years ago now. Lie. Oh, anyway, long time ago.
But so is that, it, which one or how is it set up or what would one expect from that test?
Lisa Guilbeau (05:25.827)
That’s a great question. So, you know, back in the day, was a social studies high school teacher. So when I took my assessment, which was called the TCT back in the day, I had to take seven different, call it test within one test, geometry, US history, world history, psychology, sociology.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:45.09)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Guilbeau (05:53.069)
There were seven different ones I had to take. Now you have to take them all separate if you’re a high school teacher. So math would be high school math and it’s generally six through 12. But if you want to be an elementary teacher, then you take your K through five elementary education gaze.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:15.918)
Okay. Okay. So it’s designed based on what you’re going, what you’re looking to be a teacher of. Okay. So if you’re going to be, if you’re going to be an elementary school third grade teacher, then it’s probably every subject or it touches on every subject, right? Okay. K through five. Okay.
Lisa Guilbeau (06:24.545)
Yes, exactly.
Lisa Guilbeau (06:38.755)
It would be K through five. And you know, got to be marketable too. you know, principals are going to have to have the flexibility to move you say from first grade to third grade based off of your
Lighthouse Therapy (06:52.79)
Right, right, right, right. Yeah, based on the needs. Although just getting somebody with a degree now and having their teaching certificate, holy moly, it’s so hard to find teachers right now. So, okay. So anyway, I stopped us. Let’s go on. apologize. I just wanted to make sure I understood what that included. And I’m sure others would have that question as well. So, yeah.
Lisa Guilbeau (07:04.375)
Yes.
Yes.
Lisa Guilbeau (07:15.639)
Yes, yes. So once they, when they go for their interview to secure their teaching position, the principal or whoever’s interviewing them is going to say, are you enrolled in a program? Whether that’s that they may, they may can go get a master’s degree, which would grant them a degree and a step in pay, or they can go through our program and get their teaching certification. And it’s
Lighthouse Therapy (07:23.33)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (07:34.926)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (07:39.116)
Yeah.
Lisa Guilbeau (07:46.067)
It’s saying it accounts for 25 % of the workforce in Georgia TAPP does now because Thank you and they can finish the program in a year it is a two-year program set up by the PSC however It just depends on the candidate in life in general if they have small kids
Lighthouse Therapy (07:52.526)
Wow, wow, that’s impressive. Congratulations.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:09.422)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Guilbeau (08:12.961)
I would say 86 % of our candidates finish in a year. time is money. It saves them money. And we do, we gently push them a little bit to finish because we want them certified. Because when they’re certified, that affects student achievement directly.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:33.686)
Right now, do they have to do a student teaching? Is that part of the program?
Lisa Guilbeau (08:39.863)
That’s a great question actually. So I student taught back in the day, so I was traditionally trained. They cannot have had any student teaching to enter our program. So they get on the job training where they begin teaching and then we teach them the pedagogy, which is the same thing we did with student teaching.
Part of our program, have coursework that they take required by the PSC, the exceptional child course. Georgia state law now has a literacy law where they have to take a literacy course. And now in Georgia, anyone moving forward as of June the 1st of 2025 to become certified, you have to pass the literacy gates.
And so we provide that coursework. They do a online Canvas portfolio where they upload the assignments that we create. We also have them, our supervisors go out and observe them. We have an on-site mentor at their school that their principal and the TAPP program work close.
They’re basically getting this huge circle of support with ongoing feedback from so many people, which is another reason I love our TAPP program because, you know.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:05.528)
Okay.
Lisa Guilbeau (10:20.109)
Traditionally, you don’t get that full circle of support when you go the traditional
Lighthouse Therapy (10:29.08)
Yeah, yeah, trial by fire, right?
Lisa Guilbeau (10:31.393)
Yes, exactly. I remember my first six years I was, I just remember thinking, Lord, I know you called me to do this. I know you did, but it was hard. And back then, you know, you could, my first year teaching, I was put in an English classroom and I was fresh out, ready to teach social studies. But back then you didn’t have to be highly qualified.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:43.864)
Yeah.
Lisa Guilbeau (11:01.027)
And so a lot of changes have happened for the good, but there were many years. And I tell the teachers all the time, don’t give up because I’m so thankful. I know I was called to be a teacher and I had the best 30 years of a great, great career. And I know the Lord called me there, but there were times when I wanted to give up.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:01.422)
Hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:16.952)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:28.32)
Yeah, and he and he didn’t let you leave. He said, Okay, you can retire from that. But now we’re going to do this over here. And you’re giving back. I mean, it’s just a beautiful thing that you’re doing, because you’re you’re bringing up the next generation of teachers, which is so great that they can do that. And I love the fact that you know, it’s like, okay, I went into the workforce as take your pick, you know, maybe I’m a computer programmer, maybe I’m a whatever, because I thought that would
Lisa Guilbeau (11:29.859)
You did not.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:58.059)
make me happy and give me what I needed because I would make so much money and then you realize you missed your calling and want to go back to school and want to serve kids and you don’t have to you don’t have to jump through all those hoops that’s fantastic. So when they come to you and they say they want to do this how long is it from the time that they apply if they check all the right boxes before they would start in a classroom?
Lisa Guilbeau (12:24.557)
So when they apply to us, generally most of the time they go ahead and send transcripts, they send us everything for their bachelor’s degree, they tell us what they want to teach. And most of the time they have already secured a teaching position. And the HR then contacts us and says, you know, has Lisa applied for the Georgia TAPP?
Lighthouse Therapy (12:43.438)
okay, okay.
Lisa Guilbeau (12:53.151)
and we look and we see, they’ve applied, that they were waiting on their position. And so we work very closely together. There are times though when they will fill out the application and then we will send them an email and say, you know, everything is in order except for securing that teaching position. And as soon as you secure it, you are ready to enter our program.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:21.614)
So they already have to have a teaching position and this is something that supports them as they’re going through that to get their certification. Interesting. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So how many would you say a year do you guys certify?
Lisa Guilbeau (13:29.782)
Yes.
Lisa Guilbeau (13:40.643)
So right now, well last year we had 86 in our program and they graduated. Right now we have about 58 currently, but we run two cohorts a year. Some races just run one cohort, but we run two mainly because I want to support our districts.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:45.902)
Nice.
Lisa Guilbeau (14:07.359)
If they hire someone mid year, which happens a lot, we want to go ahead and get them in and get them supported and not give them that half a year without any support. So we run a cohort in January now and and then the one in June, the one in June is always bigger. So I anticipate like my secretary Esther just told me, she said Lisa, we have 41.
candidates already signed up for June. So I anticipate at close to a hundred coming through this year.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:49.582)
Wow. So then in the summer, do you do programs in the summer to get them ready for the fall then?
Lisa Guilbeau (14:56.555)
Yes, so the summer is a it’s like our big kickoff and it’s called the summer essentials course and that is a two week program. It’s very intense. We do it the first two weeks of June. Some races do it in July, which is great because if I have if Janet is going to Italy, let’s for example and.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:22.264)
Janet is going to Italy. Yes, I’m going, it’s so funny that you said that. My daughter and I are taking a one month trip, July, almost the entire month of July, shortly into August, and about a week of that is in Italy. yeah, it’s a trip we’ve been planning. She and I have been wanting to do this for 10 years, since about the time she graduated from high school. She’s been out a little bit longer than that, but.
Lisa Guilbeau (15:37.314)
Wow, that is awesome!
Lighthouse Therapy (15:48.271)
But yeah, so it’s funny that you said that because it’s a trip of a lifetime. We’re so excited about it. My husband, my poor husband, he’s staying home and taking care of the dogs so that we can go. Yeah, anyway, I totally derailed us, but yeah, so fun.
Lisa Guilbeau (15:55.795)
I’ll blast him. Bless him.
Lisa Guilbeau (16:03.179)
Well, so let’s just say Janet is going to Italy during the June Summer Essentials and it is required by the PSC this Summer Essentials program. It is intense, but we want Janet to go to Italy because she already booked it and she doesn’t want to miss it and we don’t want her to miss it.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:08.259)
Bye.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:20.92)
Bye.
Lisa Guilbeau (16:25.493)
Another example is I had someone that their daughter was graduating from something in the military and I was like, no, you are not missing that. So what we do, all of us, Risas, is we’ll call or email and say, hey, Metro, for example, Risa in Atlanta, can you possibly take our sweet Janet, she’s going to LA, but can you let her attend your
Lighthouse Therapy (16:35.298)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:47.786)
nice, nice.
Lisa Guilbeau (16:55.043)
essentials and a lot of times people have family you know all over and so it’s worked out nice that we are flexible in that we help each other out to help the candidate so we do that but that two weeks is very intense and it’s where we go over our handbook we go over you know the portfolio we have a panel of retired
Lighthouse Therapy (17:07.096)
Love that.
Lisa Guilbeau (17:23.139)
principals come in and a lot of expertise we have HR come in we have Scenarios where we deal with classroom management and we let them roleplay Well, how do you handle this if a child and fourth grade throws a chair? What are you going to do? We also do field experience we partner with McDevie County because during
is in McDuffie County. That’s where our Risa is. So we partner with them for summer school. So during the two weeks, two mornings, we go the TAPP teachers and we go into a high school, a middle school and an elementary school, whichever one their pathway is. And we let them assist the teachers that are
teaching during summer school, a lot of remediations going on. And we knock out some of the requirements. One of them is in field observations and out of field observations. teachers don’t wanna miss school and their principals don’t want them to miss school. So we knock out about a day and a half of the four required days.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:25.528)
Right, right.
Lisa Guilbeau (18:51.723)
We’re able to knock that out and the principals have given us lovely feedback, you know, saying thank you so much and the teachers love that too. So, and we’re right there. My team is there with them, you know, talking them through things. And then the teachers there in McDuffie County are wonderful networking with them and collaborating with them.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:17.848)
Wow, that sounds like a lovely program. really does. So what would you say, having done this for the, what’d you say, five years you’ve been doing this now? Four years? Four years. So I’m somebody who’s considering it, listening to this program or whatever, hearing about it, however they’re hearing about it. What would you say are some things that they really need to consider if they wanna leave?
Lisa Guilbeau (19:28.567)
for you.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:45.902)
the traditional workforce and go into education. What kind of, I don’t know.
What the word is, I don’t know what the word is. Guidance or what that you would give them. It’s not the word. I can’t think of the word right now. It’s driving me crazy, but anyway.
Lisa Guilbeau (20:04.515)
Well, if we’re looking at career changes, someone that is not happy in a career and they want to change and they know that they want to go into teaching because we all know that teaching is so difficult. And, you know, it’s, I have mechanical engineers, I have nurses, I’ve had so many walks of life that say, hey, I want to
Lighthouse Therapy (20:10.67)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Guilbeau (20:33.847)
have a heart for teaching. So what I would say to them is if that is your heart then you’re gonna we’re gonna walk right beside you through this whole process we’re gonna help you encourage you we’re gonna build the confidence that you need and I always tell them like when I when I became a in the TAPP director I was like what?
You know, a lot of us struggle and you know, with that confidence, but you learn and know when you have a circle of support is going to help you. The same thing, and I use me as the example with my CSRA, Risa and my executive director who I can’t do my job without her supporting me. you know, I just think that they…
Lighthouse Therapy (21:11.682)
Yeah.
Lisa Guilbeau (21:28.897)
do it because I’ve just had a nurse and another thing CTAE is a little different. The allied science class, if you have a associate’s degree, you don’t have to have a bachelor’s degree there if you’ve got your license and if you’ve had two. So CTAE is career tech, agricultural classes, drama.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:49.004)
What’s CTAE? Tell us what that is.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:58.093)
Okay.
Lisa Guilbeau (21:58.103)
dance, food, and you know those are all trades that are lacking right now and we try to encourage kids to go that pathway even in high schools. We need electricians and we need welders and so a lot of the high schools now have an LPN program where they are actually becoming CNAs when they graduate from high school.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:05.646)
yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:13.422)
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Lisa Guilbeau (22:27.831)
because they go through this allied healthcare science course. This particular teacher that I’m thinking of, she decided this she wanted to teach and she took a big pay cut to do so, but she is extremely happy. She just graduated from Georgia TAPP. She did not have to take the gaze. There’s certain circumstances, mainly in just that CTAE field.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:51.064)
okay. Wow.
Lisa Guilbeau (22:56.653)
I know we had a dance teacher at a middle school that did not have to take the gaze. So we get our guidance of course from the PSC, but back to your question, anyone that wants to change the career and go into teaching, they’re gonna get this circle of support to take care of them. know, Grace, we really talk about glow and
Lighthouse Therapy (23:20.098)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Guilbeau (23:25.485)
grow in our program with their observations. Everybody needs to grow and get better. But also we focus on, you really did this well and building up their confidence for them.
Lighthouse Therapy (23:41.463)
Awesome. And the word I was looking for was advice, which is exactly what you just did. I was driving me crazy. I’m like, why can’t I, I’m a speech therapist and I’m a word finding. my goodness. I don’t like getting old. Lisa, does. I don’t recommend it. Don’t do it.
Lisa Guilbeau (23:59.241)
I know right? I’m trying not to do it either Janet. I am fighting to keep these four grandsons.
Lighthouse Therapy (24:02.968)
you
good for you. You’ve got grandkids. I don’t have any yet. I keep telling my kids, come on guys, get on, get with the program here. I want to be, I want to retire and have grandbabies. Just be with my grandbabies. We’re not quite there yet. Instead of my daughter’s dragging me to Europe, which is fine. It’ll be fun, but yeah. So, well it just sounds like such a, do you know, do you know Lisa, are there other states that are doing similar programs? Are you, are you aware of, I know you obviously know about Georgia, but are there other states that are doing similar?
Lisa Guilbeau (24:14.814)
I know.
Lisa Guilbeau (24:35.267)
I don’t know if they are, but I know that there are some trends with different names they’re calling it. So, you know, it’s…
Lighthouse Therapy (24:45.122)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (24:48.662)
I know there’s things going on in Michigan. I’ve heard, you know, I’ve heard about some, I’ve had, I’ve had people on the show have talked about, you know, things they’re doing to try to grow their own, the same thing, you know, like get the kids going into education out of high school and helping them or taking, taking the, pair of professionals that they have and helping them to get their teaching degree. I’ve, I’ve heard about those kinds of programs, but I love this because these are people from all walks of life.
Lisa Guilbeau (24:58.883)
Yes.
Lisa Guilbeau (25:08.643)
Yes.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:18.328)
who come to you with so much knowledge in another area because they’ve already had a career. I love that because then you’ve got, and I’ll tell you as an SLP, that I’ve done over half of my career has been education, but the other half of it wasn’t. So I did traumatic brain injury and I did rehab and I did skilled nursing and all of those things are things that you know.
People say, you know, people say, what would you change? And it’s like, well, there’s nothing I would change because all of those things led me, you know, even the mistakes, you know, people wish they could, could fix their mistakes. But every single mistake I’ve made has made me the person that sits here today and is grateful because God brought me through the mistakes, right? You know, but you’ve got to, you’ve got to walk through those things to be able to, and you recognize things better in kids because you’ve been there, been there, done that, got the t-shirt, right?
Lisa Guilbeau (26:04.195)
Yeah.
Lisa Guilbeau (26:15.159)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:15.342)
So it’s really, it just sounds like such a great program. And I love the fact that it makes it easier. It’s like one of the things that I’ve been talking to people about lately is, can education, secondary education become more about what you wanna do and less about getting every single credit that the school thinks that you have to have. so that you can, let’s fast track some of these things so people can, instead of,
carrying this $100,000 worth of debt because you got all these credits that you’re never gonna use, know. People will argue with me about that. I know they will and that’s fine. But it just seems like it’s just a wise way to get, and there’s such a need. There’s such an incredible need.
Lisa Guilbeau (26:50.071)
Yeah.
Lisa Guilbeau (26:59.713)
Well, and you made an excellent point about paraprofessionals because I’m gonna tell you nothing warms my heart when one of two of our districts had what they called grow for say Burke County, for example, internally looking at paraprofessionals who have bachelor’s degrees and who aren’t making what they should be making.
Lighthouse Therapy (27:21.505)
Mmm.
Yeah, that doesn’t, yeah, yeah.
Lisa Guilbeau (27:26.235)
So growing within and so what they’ve done is because Georgia has a federal grant, grant money for paraprofessionals to transition into the classroom. And so we’ve had, I think we had like 11 that became classroom teachers and then they get all the money that they’ve paid to TAPP reimbursed to them.
Lighthouse Therapy (27:54.981)
beautiful. Beautiful.
Lisa Guilbeau (27:55.767)
So it’s been wonderful to see districts grow within because they do have a passion. just, they didn’t have the funding to be able to pay for that.
Lighthouse Therapy (28:06.156)
Right? Yeah. And it’s so, it’s such a critical, critical need and to have people that love, I mean, you have to love teaching to be in this profession. It’s not, it’s not, it’s not an easy job at all, but it’s it’s a, it’s a beautiful job though, when you do it and you know, you serve the, you’re, you just, I think you have a servant’s heart. You have a servant’s heart and you love people and you just help the kids and there’s nothing.
more beautiful if you’re not an educator to see that light bulb moment when that child gets what you’ve been trying and trying and trying to help them to understand that concept. then it could be, it’s just, I don’t know. I don’t know how you even put it into words when that happens. It’s so great.
Lisa Guilbeau (28:50.563)
Well, you know, when I first started teaching my mentor and I had a great mentor, she said to me, I’ve never forgot this, she said, out of all the professions that God chose for his own son, Jesus, teaching teacher was the one. And yes, he was a healer and many other things, but teaching was that primary.
Lighthouse Therapy (29:08.59)
Mmm.
Lisa Guilbeau (29:17.539)
purpose and instilled us to do that as well. And I’ve just never forgot the magnitude of what she said to me that day on when I was starting my first year and I was like, this is really, really, really important. And, you know, as you get older and you have grandchildren, you really just see the importance of educating our kids and the equity of
Lighthouse Therapy (29:18.168)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (29:43.15)
Yeah.
Lisa Guilbeau (29:44.775)
Everyone, districts deserve the best education and you know.
Lighthouse Therapy (29:52.582)
Yeah, you know, when you talk about the Great Commission, I’m just sitting here going, I never thought about that. That’s so cool because go and make disciples of all nations. And that is teaching. That is absolutely teaching. You know, it’s just like, and that’s what he called us to do is to go and disciple others, teach them and show them what we have that they don’t have. And how do you do that? You teach them that.
Lisa Guilbeau (30:02.429)
Okay.
Lighthouse Therapy (30:19.054)
You teach them about God, you teach them about Jesus, you teach them about grace and the love of Christ. you know, as I said in the beginning, I never back down from my faith because it’s such a huge part. And it’s so important.
Lisa Guilbeau (30:31.405)
Well, know, teachers by nature too, I find are lifelong learners. Like we are always, which is another reason I’m where I am now and not at home full time. it’s like in second Peter, and I want to say it’s chapter 3, 18, but it’s, we are always when Jesus says,
Lighthouse Therapy (30:37.923)
Meh.
Lisa Guilbeau (30:57.889)
I think it was growing the grace and knowledge in Jesus. And I’ve always thought, you know, comparing with how that relates to teaching that, you know, we are lifelong learners. We should always strive to be better, not only getting closer to Jesus, but in education that we always should try to get better and better for our kids. And yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (31:02.488)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (31:25.496)
teaching them and yeah, beautiful. That’s beautiful. It’s so true. So, so true. And when you love what you do, it’s not work. I don’t go to work every day. get to do this. I get to be the CEO and founder of Lighthouse Therapy. I get to be a podcast host. I get to talk to amazing people like you because it’s just…
And I get to tell the stories. I get to be in the center of so many beautiful stories of people that just love what they’re doing, love education and want what’s better for, without somebody telling them they’re doing a cruddy job or ridiculing them or whatever, because we hear so much of that. so it’s such a blessing to be able to be the podcast host that gets to do that. So I am so grateful.
Lisa Guilbeau (32:17.783)
Well, and I appreciate your work because I’ve listened to some of your podcasts and, and, know, it’s coping skills nowadays. It’s hard. And when I was the administrator through COVID, I saw we, were one of the very few districts that stayed in school and it was hard.
It was hard and then, you know, there were times I’m being honest that I said, am I keeping my teachers safe? Am I keeping these kids safe and taking these big machines and going through the school buses and doing things that I didn’t know? And I just prayed every day, God, I want the kids to learn. And some of our kids aren’t eating if they’re not at school.
Lighthouse Therapy (32:43.779)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (33:09.838)
Right, yeah.
Lisa Guilbeau (33:10.339)
You know, so it was really hard, but I remember telling the kids, you know, life is always going to throw things at us and we’re not exempt from suffering and there’s always going to be things that happen and for us to model, this is really hard and being honest and saying I’m scared, but we’re going to get through this together and cope with it. And that’s something I feel like, you know,
We talk to the teachers a lot about that, that we have to teach them coping skills too because they can’t give up and just stop.
Lighthouse Therapy (33:45.495)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. That’s what my mama used to always say. She was the queen of cliches and there’s so many and that’s a great one that has just stuck with me. well, Lisa, it has been such a pleasure. I want to give you an opportunity to plug your program and plug. We’ve been talking about it, but where do people go if they want to find out more information about the TAPP program?
Lisa Guilbeau (33:52.707)
it.
Lisa Guilbeau (34:12.621)
So they would go to our website, CSRA-RESA, and they’ll find a Georgia TAPP link on there. Or you can Google CSRA-RESA Georgia TAPP, and it will come up straight to the Georgia TAPP program for us. And I think I’ve plugged a great deal for my program.
Lighthouse Therapy (34:38.156)
Yeah, absolutely.
Lisa Guilbeau (34:39.661)
I mean, I’m very passionate about it. And like you said earlier, I feel honored to get to do this job. I know it’s a great responsibility and I get to give back, as you said, to a community that invested in me because I’m a product of one of the 11 districts that I serve. So I don’t take that lightly that they invested and poured into me. So, you know, I…
Lighthouse Therapy (35:02.026)
nice. Very nice.
Lighthouse Therapy (35:08.6)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Guilbeau (35:09.507)
want to give back to this community and I think I said this earlier too, the power of the support system that we offer. I’ve not had teachers say I don’t feel supported through Georgia Tech, so that makes me happy. Yes, they say it’s hard, it’s hard, it’s hard and I don’t have time to upload and do, you know, attend your seminars, but I never hear them say that they’re not supported.
Lighthouse Therapy (35:25.09)
Right. Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (35:38.082)
Yeah, yeah. And that’s the same thing with like brighter together. It’s us giving back, know, giving, giving people a voice and giving them an opportunity to talk about what’s happening in education because every single thing, every single person that I talked to, when you look at the collective, it just embodies the name of the podcast, which is brighter together because we are brighter together because of all of the work that’s being done out there. And so thank you for coming on the show.
Thank you for telling us about your passion and what’s happening and just keep it up. I’m just, I’m excited for more for you guys. Absolutely. So thank you.
Lisa Guilbeau (36:14.563)
Thank for having me.
Lighthouse Therapy (36:17.216)
Absolutely. Okay.
End of Year Report Card Comments: Examples for Teachers and SPED Teams