By Nancy Green
Kosciusko High School’s math teacher, Jackie McElwain, has been named Teacher of the Year and will represent the school in the selection of the 2010 Mississippi Teacher of the Year.
A Teacher of the Year will be picked from each of the state’s congressional districts and they will be eligible for the state title with the winner advancing to the national level of competition.
McElwain is in her 25th year in the Kosciusko school system with a total of 28 years in the teaching profession. She currently teaches Algebra I, Pre-Calculus and Trigonometry. She has also taught seventh and eighth grade math, eighth grade Pre-Algebra and ninth grade Algebra at Kosciusko Junior High. From 2001-06, she was an adjunct intermediate math instructor for Holmes Community College.
In addition to teaching she has also coached junior high girl’s basketball, and was assistant high school girl’s basketball coach.
She began her teaching career in 1981 in the Lee County School System at Verona Junior High where she taught seventh math, eighth math and ninth grade general math and served as cheerleader sponsor. She taught in this system three years before moving to Kosciusko.
“Teaching is one of the greatest and most rewarding professions that a person could ever have. I feel very privileged that God called me to this most awesome profession. Next to God and my family, there is nothing more in life that I enjoy than working with my students,” she said.
In 1977 she entered Itawamba Junior College and after one year transferred to Mississippi State University where she graduated in 1981 with a bachelor of science degree in physical education and an endorsement in secondary math education.
In 2009, she was selected by the Community College Consortium to serve as a technical assistant for Math in Career and Technical Education. Her responsibility was to help the allied health teacher from the district to bridge CTE applications to the appropriate math concept and process. She is a member of the Kosciusko Foundation for Excellence in Education and the Kosciusko Parent-Teacher Association.
She was selected by the Mississippi Department of Education to serve on the Algebra I State Test Item Review and Algebra I State Test Data Review committees. She has been featured in Who’s Who Among Teachers, including the 2008-09 school year and has been the school’s Star Teacher for four times.
Commenting on educational issues and trends, she said state testing, student motivation, and the lack of parent involvement are some of the issues that public education is faced with at the present time; however, lack of funding is the major public education issue of today.
McElwain said she believes community involvement is one of the major keys to being successful as a teacher.”Volunteer work is very important to me, better yet teaching students how to be a servant is what I consider to be most important. I have learned in my teaching that giving yourself to help the needs of others is where the greatest reward comes,” she said.
She has volunteered with the city parks and recreation program, with Relay for Life and as a teacher advisor for the Mayor’s Youth Council. She serves the community by teaching students how to serve through the Beta Club, which is an academic as well as a service organization. She works with Beta students in the Veterans Day and Memorial Day services at Parkway Cemetery. She oversees raising of monies for the Blair Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson.
At First Baptist Church she teaches a college Sunday school class and serves on various committees. Each summer she serves as a counselor and bus driver for mission trips on projects of work from roofing houses to teaching backyard bible schools. “These are very rewarding experiences for me because I get to know my students outside of the classroom, and I get to teach hem how to volunteer,” she said.
If she is advanced to another level as Teacher of the Year, she said her platform would be “The ABC’s of Education.” The “A” would be to accept the challenge before you. “B” would be that each teacher must be your very best every day. The “C” would be to commit to the challenge.
“Teachers have the greatest responsibility. A teacher has the life of their students in their hands and it is so very important that a teacher does their best every day. It is so important that you treat each and every child just like they are your own,” McElwain said.
Her husband is Mike and their children are Corey, 26, a Delta State graduate, and Cody, 21, a senior at Mississippi State University.
