LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Amber Jackson was nominated by an anonymous member of the community.

Four miles north of Boston, Massachusetts, students sit in a classroom with bars on the windows, snow piling up on the ground outside, and the sounds of construction being done on other parts of their school. At Somerville High School, students learn under these conditions while balancing the everyday challenges of high school- making friends, wearing the “right” clothes, dating, “making the team”, applying to colleges, and challenges at home. Through their own resiliency and the support of teachers like Ms. Jackson, many students can achieve academic and personal success. Delivering high quality instruction and applying pedagogy well makes one a teacher, but combining these qualities with a friendly face and a listening ear makes one a teacher that students attend school each day to learn from. As a 10-12th grade mathematics teacher at Somerville High School, Amber Jackson not only changes a life, but she changes lives.

Ms. Jackson believes that every student has the ability to conquer math and learn how to apply it to their own lives. Since she has taught classes ranging from college prep Algebra II to Honors Statistics, she understands that students may be intimidated by her classes and feel disconnected from the content they learn. Thinking that they will be expected to calculate the Pythagorean Theorem in a grocery store, students often ask, “Ms. Jackson, why do we need to keep learning math in high school?” Her answer always surprises students, and many remember her words years later. "Your brain won’t start growing again until you're 18," she tells them. "From 18-25 years old, the brain grows a lot. Right now, you’re in high school and your brain isn’t growing, but you still need to learn how to interact with people and to think through problems and solutions. Math helps you practice thinking logically during a time when your brain isn’t trained to do so- yet.” Her students, and other educators, appreciate the honesty behind her words and the challenge to soak up critical thinking and analytical skills while in her classroom.

If “it’s all in the details”, then Ms. Jackson’s teaching has done it all. For her, details include her ability to create a safe classroom environment for her students and experiment with innovative homework techniques. She stores snacks in her room for students who have skipped breakfast, and even shares her own meals with students who didn’t have money for lunch. She also uses names from the school’s various cultures in the practice problems and assessments she designs, and she learns math phrases in various languages so she can communicate with students of varying abilities. These are just a few of the ways she shows students she cares about their individual well-being and learning.

Her strategies for designing homework assignments also help her students engage in their own learning and increase their opportunities for building skills. Using tech tools such as Google classroom, Ms. Jackson will sometimes assign a single challenging question, asking students to complete as much as they can and upload their answers. She then takes the time to provide each student with unique and tailored feedback guiding them to identify their mistakes and work on the problem again. Ms. Jackson’s ability to connect with students can be seen in other school activities she’s involved in as well.

Ms. Jackson’s influence on students’ lives is not limited to the classroom; her actions also have an impact on the larger school environment. She participates in multiple programs around the school that not only support students' voices and emotional health, but promote an inclusive and encouraging school culture. Since February 2016, Ms. Jackson helped support and organize The Matters Speak Series, an initiative to help students and educators share their life experiences through poetry, art, music, and dance. The goal of this initiative is to provide a safe space to discuss difficult topics such as gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and culture. Ms. Jackson has expanded the impact of The Matters Speak Series through her work on Somerville High School’s Cultural Proficiency Board (CPB). On the CPB, she works with a group of educators to share student concerns and provide equity training to school staff members. With a personal and professional understanding of the ways respecting culture can positively influence a school environment, Ms. Jackson seeks to help Somerville “lead the way” in cultural inclusion and sustaining practices.

Her passion for her students, empathy for the things that matter to them, and ability to encourage other teachers to also use these qualities more often have made Ms. Jackson what she is: a teacher leader. After teaching at Somerville High School for 7 years, Ms. Jackson has taught many courses including regular Algebra II, college prep Algebra II, MCAS prep, honors Pre-Calculus, and honors Statistics. She has used her experience to mentor new teachers in the department over the years, partnering with them to unify the content and standards for student learning. By being data driven and advocating for equitable access to classes, she has earned her reputation as a LifeChanger.