What’s it take to be Teacher of the Year? ‘An odd sense of humor and energy’ may help

One Lee’s Summit teacher is starting off the school year with an enormous bragging right. At a ceremony Thursday at Lee’s Summit West, Jennifer Jones discovered she had been named Missouri’s Teacher of the Year for 2025.

Jones, who teaches English at Lee’s Summit West, had been one of seven finalists for the award statewide.

Keeping the announcement a surprise wasn’t easy.

“So an assembly this week is a little suspicious, and an assembly on such short notice is pretty suspicious, but my colleagues in the English department made up a lot of very creative lies to convince me that this has nothing to do with it,” Jones said.

Jones, who has been teaching for 24 years, said she doesn’t consider herself a flashy teacher.

“I’m certainly not a TikTok-worthy teacher or an Instagram-worthy teacher,” Jones said. “I’m a nuts and bolts ‘what do I need to teach you and how’ type of teacher. But I think it sort of validates that sort of approach to this work.

“I don’t know that what I do in my classroom is that different from the hard work of educators everywhere. I’m maybe a little bit zanier when I do it. I have an odd sense of humor and energy.”

The key for her has always been respect for her students.

“You never know what crazy thing is going to happen on any given day, and you also never know whose lightbulb is going to go off any given day, and that’s rewarding,” she said.

Jones herself was inspired by her second-grade teacher who loved creative writing and a senior English teacher who pushed her to excel at academic and persuasive writing.

Spending nearly 20 years at the same school has led her to look at her department as her family and to call the school her home. She hopes to stay there until she retires.

The Teacher of the Year selection process began with the announcement of 34 regional candidates. At the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District, a committee made up of representatives from the Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce and the district selected Jones from a pool of around a dozen candidates.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education considered more than 100 regional finalists, before winnowing the field to seven. Jones is the fourth teacher to receive the top honor since LSR7 started participating in the Teacher of the Year program more than 30 years ago.

A fellow teacher nominated Jones for the award Hones followed it up with a written application and finally, last week, an in-person interview with the selection committee.

Greg Kester, teacher of the year for 2024, was part of that group, along with honored Missouri teachers from 2015 on. Also in on the selection were representatives from various education groups, such as the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.

They asked tough questions, like what each teacher would do when confronted with legislators wanting to cut the budget for public education.

“She was incredibly competent, obviously highly intelligent,” Kester said. “She thinks quickly. She’s got a sharp mind. She’s incisive and insightful.”

As teacher of the year, she’ll have various responsibilities representing the teachers of Missouri. Kester said he’s been out of the classroom for about 40 days during his tenure.

He said he was impressed with her connection to her students.

“She’s attached to her students, and seeing the reaction at the assembly, they’re attached to her,” Kester said. “Relationships don’t end at the end of the class period or at end of the school year or even at the graduation. Relationships that high school teachers build with students are relationships that last forever.”

Fellow Lee’s Summit West English teacher Mary Humphreys said that dedication is what makes Jones stand out.

“She definitely leads the department not just vocally but just through her work ethic and the amount of time she puts in to give students the necessary feedback that they need to grow as writers, as readers, as learners,” Humphreys said.

Humphreys is impressed with the way Jones interacts with students.

“Jen is one of those people — we always say ‘a warm demander’ — who has high expectations for students, expects them to grow, holds students accountable, but does so in a very warm and caring manner,” Humphreys said.

To Jones, being authentic is the lesson she hopes her students take from her.

“My message to my students is I didn’t say anything or do anything other than be myself to get here, and they are enough on their own,” Jones said.

This story was originally published September 13, 2024 at 3:18 PM.