{"id":13724,"date":"2012-03-26T16:42:43","date_gmt":"2012-03-26T21:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=13724"},"modified":"2014-09-23T08:33:21","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T13:33:21","slug":"biloxi-teacher-um-alum-named-teacher-of-the-year-at-gulf-coast-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/biloxi-teacher-um-alum-named-teacher-of-the-year-at-gulf-coast-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Biloxi Teacher, UM Alum Named Teacher of the Year at Gulf Coast School"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Amber<\/a>

Amber Watkins<\/p><\/div>\n

OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 Amber Watkins, a 2009 elementary education graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Education, seems to be a natural teacher.<\/p>\n

In fact, only a year-and-a-half into her teaching career, she\u2019s been honored as Teacher of the Year for Woolmarket Elementary School in Biloxi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many reasons I love what I do,\u201d said Watkins, a native of D’Iberville who leads a class of 19 second-graders. \u201cBut I think seeing my students succeed is the most rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chosen by her principal, Vickie Williams, Watkins will be honored April 30 at her school\u2019s board of directors meeting. She was chosen for the award after Williams observed Watkins\u2019 in-depth teaching style and commitment to help students throughout the school, not just the ones in her class.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe selected Mrs. Watkins for her creativity, passion and willingness to go above and beyond,\u201d Williams explained. \u201cShe ensures all of her students meet her expectations and works well with colleagues. She gives up her planning time to tutor at-risk students. I wish we had more like her.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Watkins, the teaching profession has been a calling since childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI became interested in being a teacher because of my brother,\u201d she said. \u201cHe struggled with ADHD and I saw how much he worked to barely get by. I wanted to be there for students and help them regardless of their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watkins is working on a master\u2019s degree in elementary education at William Carey University in Gulfport and has plans to one day return to Ole Miss for doctoral work. Her dream job is to be an education professor, but in the meantime, she\u2019s focusing her energy on her students.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone needs someone who won’t give up on them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For more information on the UM School of Education, go to http:\/\/education.olemiss.edu\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 Amber Watkins, a 2009 elementary education graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Education, seems to be a natural teacher. In fact, only a year-and-a-half into her teaching career, she\u2019s been honored as Teacher of the Year for Woolmarket Elementary School in Biloxi. \u201cThere are so many reasons I love whatRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,199,161],"tags":[450,29],"yoast_head":"\nBiloxi Teacher, UM Alum Named Teacher of the Year at Gulf Coast School - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/biloxi-teacher-um-alum-named-teacher-of-the-year-at-gulf-coast-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biloxi Teacher, UM Alum Named Teacher of the Year at Gulf Coast School - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 Amber Watkins, a 2009 elementary education graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Education, seems to be a natural teacher. In fact, only a year-and-a-half into her teaching career, she\u2019s been honored as Teacher of the Year for Woolmarket Elementary School in Biloxi. \u201cThere are so many reasons I love whatRead the story …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/biloxi-teacher-um-alum-named-teacher-of-the-year-at-gulf-coast-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-09-23T13:33:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Amber-Watkins.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Ole Miss News\",\"description\":\"The official source for University of Mississippi news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/biloxi-teacher-um-alum-named-teacher-of-the-year-at-gulf-coast-school\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Amber-Watkins.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/biloxi-teacher-um-alum-named-teacher-of-the-year-at-gulf-coast-school\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/biloxi-teacher-um-alum-named-teacher-of-the-year-at-gulf-coast-school\/\",\"name\":\"Biloxi Teacher, UM Alum Named Teacher of the Year at Gulf Coast School - Ole Miss News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/biloxi-teacher-um-alum-named-teacher-of-the-year-at-gulf-coast-school\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-09-23T13:33:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/4515cb1b4f8a759552c0827c3df56430\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/biloxi-teacher-um-alum-named-teacher-of-the-year-at-gulf-coast-school\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/4515cb1b4f8a759552c0827c3df56430\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e8e7562bf6d779d771ad8ce4cecd7ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13724"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41172,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13724\/revisions\/41172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}