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Amy Peoples has been selected as the 2016-2017 teacher of the year for Simpson Central School. After graduating from Simpson Academy, Amy began attending Jones County Junior College. She continued her education at William Carey University where she received a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Reading.
Mrs. Peoples is currently in her tenth year as a classroom teacher. After her first four years at North Forrest Elementary in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, she decided to move back to her hometown of Magee, Mississippi where she began teaching second grade at Simpson Central. In second grade, Amy served on the English Language Arts curriculum committee for the district and as team leader. She currently serves as a mentor teacher and as team leader while teaching fifth grade English Language Arts. Mrs. Peoples is also the junior high cheerleader sponsor.
In her classroom, Mrs. Peoples uses test data as a very important tool to help drive instruction. With such a rigorous curriculum, analyzing data helps her to better understand the performance level of each student and how to teach the standards in a way that allows all students the opportunity to experience success. Academic goals are then set so that every student knows the expectations. Then, Mrs. Peoples and her students work together to achieve those goals. For the past two years, test results have shown that her fifth grade students exceeded the district and statewide averages on the English Language Arts state assessment. In 2014, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) assessment was administered to students in Mississippi to measure student achievement on the Mississippi College and Career Readiness Standards. In 2015, the PARCC assessment was replaced by the Mississippi Assessment Program (MAP) which is also designed to measure student achievement on the Mississippi College-and Career-Readiness Standards (MS CCRS). Because of her success in the classroom implementing reading strategies, Amy was a co-presenter at the 2016 Mississippi Association for Middle Level Education conference in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She spoke to other educators from Mississippi about how to effectively implement close reading strategies to increase reading comprehension. In the spring, Mrs. Peoples will travel to Augusta, Georgia to co-present at the 2017 Impacting Student Learning Conference. She will facilitate discussions and share strategies with other educators that focus on student-centered learning activities.
Amy feels very blessed and humbled to be selected by her peers to have the honor of representing Simpson Central School as teacher of the year. She has always had a passion for teaching. She feels that one of the best things about being a teacher is being able to form positive relationships with the students and connect with them in a way that provides a fun learning environment while also meeting the needs of all students. In addition, Mrs. Peoples enjoys when she is able to observe students over time becoming more confident in themselves as readers and writers. She believes the students are able to gain this confidence because of the high expectations that she sets for all students. She doesn’t think of teaching as a job, but as an opportunity to work together with her students and other colleagues so that all students can obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful adults.
Amy and her husband, Ron, reside in Terry, Mississippi. In her spare time, Mrs. Peoples enjoys reading, crafting, traveling, and spending time with her family and friends.
