Tyler 2015 Teachers of the Year Announced

TYLER — From a list of 27 teachers in TISD who were campus teachers of the year, two have been named as the district’s teachers of the year. Honored last night at the annual banquet at the Harvey Convention Center were Karen Antique as the Elementary Teacher of the Year and Sharmecia Jackson as the Secondary Teacher of the Year. The District winners will compete at the regional level this summer.

Ms. Antique is a fifth grade bilingual teacher at Bell Elementary. She has been in TISD for eight years. A native of Venezuela, she moved to the United States, she moved to the United States 12 years ago to attend college. She said she never dreamed of becoming a teacher, but selected that path at the encouragement of her friends and family. Ms. Antique said she realized she could use her foreign language background to help teach English to students, giving them a stronger foundation for success.

Ms. Jackson is a ninth grade success strategies and web technology teacher. She has been in TISD for six years. She said that mentoring, encouragement, commitment, hard work, perseverance, persistence, determination, passion for helping others and making a difference were important factors that influenced her to become an educator.