Jackson Magazine honored their top teachers Thursday at the Commonwealth Commerce Center.
Shelly Jusick joined us here at WKHM to announce the Top 5 on Wednesday:
- Carmel McDonald – Paragon Charter Academy
- Mickey Archer – Warner Elementary
- Mary CHamberlain – Bean Elementary
- Suzanne Gibbs – Warner Elementary
- Nicole Kelly – Warner Elementary
The Teacher of the Year Award, along with the $5 thousand prize went to Carmel McDonald of Paragon Charter Academy. McDonald said that she was stunned. “Its a really neat thing that Jackson Magazine honors teachers in our community.”
McDonald said that her kids attended Paragon, and that was how she ended up as a teacher there. Originally from Canada, McDonald took the time to transfer her certifications and accepted a position in the middle school. Her philosophy is “close reading”, which is taking a small section of a piece of literature and pick it apart “for language, for theme, for structure, and try to imitate that kind writing,” McDonald said.