NATCHEZ — Virginia Robertson is quick to tell anyone who asks why she became a teacher that it was the other way around.

“Teaching found me,” said Robertson, who teaches 10th grade English at Natchez High School. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but I grew up in a community where it seemed like there was a teacher in every other house in my neighborhood.

“There’s this concept that it takes a village to raise a child, and I was a part of that concept growing up, so I wanted to continue doing that for others.”

Robertson was recently recognized as the Natchez-Adams School District teacher of the year, as well as the teacher of the year for the high school.

Teachers from across the district vote for one teacher at their school they believe deserves the honor, and the district teacher of the year is selected from that group of teachers.

Robertson has been teaching in the NASD for six years and previously taught in Concordia Parish schools for 17 years.

The honor of being selected from among her peers was something Robertson said was incredibly humbling.

“I don’t like to toot my own horn or talk about my achievements, so it was indeed an honor and a privilege to be revered among my colleagues in this way,” Robertson said. “It means a lot that they saw in me the hard work and dedication I’ve put in.

“To be held in such esteem among your peers is indeed gratifying.”

In the classroom, Robertson exudes confidence and poise as she constantly moves throughout the classroom exhibiting her hands-on teaching style.

“There’s no sitting for me in the classroom,” Robertson said, smiling. “That’s like taboo for me.”

Instead, Robertson spends the entire 50 minutes of each class period attempting to engage the students from bell to bell.

Ensuring the students remain active from the moment they walk in the classroom, Robertson said, is how she’s able to maintain their undivided attention.

“Instruction time starts the second they walk through that door,” she said. “You have to engage the students, and they have to have expectations and procedures from the start.”

Robertson tweaked her teaching style slightly this year when NHS principal Fred Butcher reassigned her from teaching 12th-grade students to 10th-grade students.

When Butcher presented Robertson with an award for the achievement at a recent school board meeting, Butcher recalled the moment he told Robertson about the switch.

“Any of you who know Mrs. Robertson know that she’s all about the hand movements,” Butcher said before attempting to impersonate Robertson. “I told her I needed her in 10th grade, and she told me, ‘I’m going to pray on it and let you know.’”

The decision to move Robertson to the 10th grade, Butcher said, was one made across the high school to put high-performing teachers in the grades and subject areas that are on the annual state tests. In Mississippi, high school students are assessed with the Subject Area Testing Program test in four subjects, including English.

Robertson said the decision to switch was one she thought about for a great deal of time, but ultimately knew the choice she had to make.

“If that’s where I’m needed, that’s where I’ll go,” Robertson remembers telling Butcher. “For them to have that faith in me to say, ‘we need you here’ meant a lot.”

Robertson said she’s confident the decision to move her to the 10th grade will shine through in this year’s test results.

“I’m a firm believer that God didn’t put me in the 10th grade to have me fail,” Robertson said. “If He put me in it, He will see me through it.”

Other Natchez teachers who were honored as teacher of the year for their school include:

• Eddie Smith — Freshman Academy

• Jamal McCullen — McLaurin Elementary School

• Bonita Hamilton — Morgantown Middle School

• Loran Scott — West Elementary School

• Eric Stewman — Fallin Career and Tech Center

• Toni Martin — Frazier Elementary School

• Albert Davis — Robert Lewis Magnet School