NATCHEZ — Don’t tell Nedra Hackett that math isn’t fun.

She and her fifth-grade students at McLaurin Elementary School just won’t follow.

“I’m the fun one,” said the Natchez-Adams School District’s Teacher of the Year. “I know how I want to be enticed to sit in a classroom and learn, so I’m real with my children.

“I’m not a sit upright and speak softly style teacher. I want my children to be loud, vocal and to tell me what they are thinking. Sometimes people wonder if we are even doing work.”

Her coworkers all admit she’s special, and Superintendent Frederick Hill said he was proud to have Hackett in the district.

“Ms. Hackett is cut from a different cloth,” he said. “I mean that in the most sincere way, and she knows I do.  She does whatever it takes to ensure students are learning.  She’s a depiction of the great teaching that is happening in NASD.

“There’s only one Ms. Hackett.”

Expressing math isn’t always easy for students, but Hackett has her methods.

“When you go home and look at the remote, are there numbers on it? If you get two cookies, how many do you have left?” Hackett asked. “We try to associate numbers to everyday life, and then they are like, ‘Wow, I am using this.’”

McLaurin’s vending machines also face the threat of Skittles and M&Ms shortages when fractions come up in Hackett’s classroom.

“You can make anything a game,” she said. “You can use dominoes, cards and food — you can use food for everything.

“Everyone loves getting a treat.”

She started working at McLaurin nine years ago as a substitute, spent a year in language arts and has been a math teacher the rest of the time.

“It started as just looking for a job, but after months of fulfilling work around students, it pushed me to say this is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Hackett said. “It’s a calling. It’s definitely not for the paycheck, but it’s rewarding in other ways.”

It’s all about preparing the future.

“I can say that I’m able to help someone,” she said. “I’m helping mold the people who will one day take care of us.”

Once she got into math, she knew it was where she belonged.

“I taught language arts for a while, and even though that’s OK, in math there are answers,” Hackett said. “Children need that precision. I need that precision.”

Students in her class need to learn beyond simply repeating what’s in the textbook.

“I love that there are multiple ways to solve a problem,” she said. “And I want them to tell me how they solved it. I love to see how a child’s mind works — math really makes them think.”

Each class is also treated specially.

“Everything you do has to be different,” Hackett said. “You have to morph into a different person for different kids — they are not the same as the kids from last year.”

Hackett said testing season could be stressful. But for her, making sure that students are showing growth is what’s important.

“We want to see if they grew and actually learned something,” she said. “Can you tell me something, explain it in your words?”

Some days teaching can be tough, but Hackett said the McLaurin family is there for her.

“We keep each other encouraged,” she said. “There is no place like it. I’ve loved McLaurin from the day I walked in here as a sub.”

Peers in the district nominate someone to be the district’s Teacher of the Year.

“This year it was different — it was a big shindig — so I was already excited about just that,” Hackett said. “Then I looked down the line of all of the wonderful teachers nominated, and I was proud to just have my name amongst theirs.

“When they called my name as the winner, I was like, ‘Lord Jesus, I can’t believe this.’ I was just really excited.”