Eight of the best teachers in the Natchez-Adams School District said they don’t teach their classes, they teach each individual student.

&uot;Individual&uot; was a word nearly every school’s teacher of the year used Tuesday to describe his or her teaching style.

&uot;I try to individualize my students. Get to know them. Touch them on the shoulder, make them feel special,&uot; Robert Lewis Middle School teacher of the year Monica King said.

&uot;I teach the students as individuals. Everyone has a different personality,&uot; Central Alternative School’s Berthenia Rose Jackson said.

&uot;When I talk to each child I try to put my daughter’s face there. I treat these kids like they are my own,&uot; Kelly Austin Baroni of Frazier Primary said.

King, Jackson and Baroni, along with West Primary’s Lisa Carol Lewis, McLaurin Elementary’s Yolanda Townsend, Morgantown’s Ernest Fields, Natchez High’s Frances Doss and Fallin’s Ann Elizabeth Brown are doing something to set them apart from the others, even if they won’t admit it.

Each of the teachers was nominated and chosen by their fellow teachers to be the teacher of the year for their respective schools.

&uot;I don’t think I do anything different that other teachers don’t do,&uot; said Lewis, who teaches first grade. &uot;Teachers are a special breed. It takes a lot of courage to come through that door every day. You are responsible for someone else.&uot;

At Morgantown, Fields teaches music and leads a choir of more than 200 students.

Two days a week, after regular school hours are over, Fields holds a two-hour choir practice.

&uot;I get to incorporate all the other subjects in my lessons,&uot; Fields said. &uot;I get the best of it all. The best is when I see my kids perform and see the reaction on their faces when people clap for them.&uot;

In Townsend’s third-grade McLaurin classroom the learning is always hands-on. Tuesday it was music, clapping and elimination games that made multiplication tables fun.

&uot;I like to do a lot of hands-on activities,&uot; she said. &uot;Anything that’s going to get a child to learn. When they are eager to learn it gets me motivated.&uot;

Hands-on is the name of the game at Fallin Career and Technology Center, and Brown’s allied health class is no different.

&uot;I’m always looking for something new for the students to do,&uot; she said. &uot;We take knowledge and teach students how to apply it. We very much prepare them for the workplace.&uot;

With 24 teaching years under her belt, the title teacher of the year is nothing new for NHS’s Doss, but she said she was still surprised. A caring attitude and a respectful classroom are things Doss said make her classroom a fun place to be.

&uot;I’ve kind of created my own formula, the 3 Cs &045; challenging, being creative and caring,&uot; Doss said. &uot;Generally if you are genuine, if they know what to expect, they will do what they are supposed to do. Honestly, I just enjoy doing what I’m doing.&uot;

The efforts of each school’s teacher of the year are not going unnoticed by their students, either.

&uot;She’s the goodest teacher in the whole wide world,&uot; first-grader Taylor Brown said of Baroni.

A committee of four central office administrators will interview each of the school nominees next Wednesday. The committee will chose a district-wide teacher of the year, whose name and information will be sent to the state level for further judging.