Brett Burgess named ‘Teacher of the Year’ at James Clemens

MADISON – Brett Burgess wanted to work in Madison City Schools for association with the best in his field, both academic and coaching. James Clemens High School’s faculty and staff selected Burgess as “Teacher of the Year.”

“My first feeling was disbelief. My campaign manager, T.J. Orr, is known for pulling pranks on me, so I was afraid this might have been one of them,” Burgess said.

“After that, I just felt an incredible appreciation for the place that I work. I’m surrounded by excellent educators; I felt truly honored to have been chosen as Teacher of the Year,” Burgess said.

He teaches U.S. history and is assistant coach for Jets Varsity Baseball.

From 2017 to 2019, Burgess taught social studies and coached baseball and football at Pepperell Middle School in Lindale, Ga. He worked one year at Centre Middle School in social studies and coaching as assistant in varsity baseball and middle-school football.

Burgess then accepted a job in Madison and appreciated MCS’ superb academic reputation. “I wanted to learn from Coach Johnson, one of Alabama’s best baseball coaches and compete at the 7A level,” Burgess said. “What I found was exactly that — James Clemens has the state’s best faculty. I’m very proud to be a Jet.”

In 2022, he joined the charter group led by Central Office staff for “Transformative Teaching,” a program focused on integrating instructional technology into the classroom, efficiently and effectively.

After two years of this training, Burgess received coaching hours this past school year. He led several professional development sessions and continued enhancing his instruction with technology. He used technology to benefit students with distinct needs.

In other successes, Burgess completed the first year as an online ACCESS teacher (ACCESS abbreviates Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide.). As a coach, he saw Jets Baseball advance to first playoffs round. As club sponsor, he promoted growth in Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

“Teaching is a very difficult job to judge success sometimes. I put a lot of time into planning discussions, questions and reflection in class, so I usually judge a lesson’s success by class feedback,” Burgess said.

“If I ever hear students discussing class content, I claim that as success; they were truly engaged and thought about it deeply,” Burgess said. “Overall, I judge my success by positive relationships I’ve built with students.”

The ultimate compliment occurs when a graduate returns and expresses that they were glad to be in his class. “That’s when I am most proud of the job that I’ve done,” Burgess said.

Burgess earned an associate’s degree at Snead State Community College, a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Southwestern State University and a master’s degree from the University of Alabama. Currently, he is attending the University of West Alabama to obtain credentials for Education Specialist in Teacher Leadership.

Burgess grew up in Centre. He and his wife Lucy, who currently works as a stay-at-home mom, have been married for six years. Their children are threeyear- old Rosalie and seven-month-old twins Wesley and Brooks.

Brett likes spending time with family, exercising, listening to audiobooks and podcasts and following Alabama football. And, who would have guessed . . . “I am an exceptional ping-pong player,” he said.