This article is part of a series by The Vicksburg Post, in partnership with the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, featuring each of the nominees for teacher of the year honors.

 

Redwood Elementary School teacher Amber Jones is in just her third year teaching but has a vision for her teaching and her students that is well down the road.

“I want to challenge my students and watch them grow to their full potential,” Jones said, adding, “I believe students should enjoy the learning process.”

Jones is one of the teachers nominated for the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce’s Teacher of the Year awards.

The chamber will select and announce one elementary and one secondary teacher of the year at the chamber luncheon on Feb. 25. The winner of each award will receive $1,000 from Ameristar Casino and the runner-up for each award will receive $500 from Mutual Credit Union.

Jones, who began teaching in 2017 when she joined the team at Redwood Elementary, received an associate’s degree from Jones County Junior College before receiving her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Mississippi College.

Currently, she is working on her master’s degree in elementary education, also at Mississippi College.

In her application for Teacher of the Year, Jones said it was an experience in her first year of teaching that remains the most memorable.

“I had a student who could not read. He would become very frustrated with his work. He wanted to read, so I found him a very simple book,” she writes in the application. “He sat with me until he had learned to read the entire book by himself. He was so happy. He read the book to me over and over again.

“He asked if he could take the book home to read to his mom, of course, I said yes,” she continued. “I will never forget the smile on his face when he read the book independently.”