Her Story
Peggy Jackson grew up as the daughter of a farmer in western Texas, where she taught her dolls. Her father often told her, “Peggy, when you’re talking, you’re not learning,” and she has used that to guide her own work by making sure she spends more time learning than talking. She earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies and English from Texas Tech University, then moved to Albuquerque, where her first teaching jobs were with special education students. She went on to earn a master’s degree in special education and gifted instruction from the University of New Mexico.
She later received a James Madison Fellowship, which led to a second master’s degree in political science at the University of New Mexico, with summer study at Georgetown University. At Moriarty High School she taught government, U.S. history and civics. When she arrived the school had no Advanced Placement program, and she told her assistant principal that her rural students were losing out. She trained to teach AP Government and started the school’s first AP class, and 70 percent of her students earned a 3 or higher on the exam.
Every day she stood at her classroom door and greeted each student individually. Her desk was in the back of the room to show that the classroom belonged to the students, and the walls held maps, primary documents and Supreme Court cases students could check out. She lectured little. Students wrote each day on a quote or political cartoon from the news, used a template she designed to weigh two or more sides of a controversial issue, and taught each other. She closed lessons with exit tickets to see what needed reteaching. One student told her, “I shared something I didn’t even know about before I came to class, I studied it, and then I taught it to other students!”
Beyond the Classroom
For more than a decade Jackson sponsored We the People, a mock congressional hearing in which students answer demanding questions about the Constitution before judges, legislators and community leaders. Her students often won the New Mexico competition and went on to the national finals in Washington, DC. Her small, rural community raised the money to send them, including a community bingo night with prizes her students collected.
She became a National Board Certified Teacher in 2003 and renewed in 2011. As a trained Candidate Support Provider she has supported more than 30 teachers in the Moriarty-Edgewood schools through the process, and she helped build programs in other rural districts. She served as the New Mexico NBCT network’s vice president for advocacy and policy and organized its annual recognition of new board-certified teachers at the state legislature. From 2013 to 2016 she was the charter school liaison for a federal grant program that brought dozens of charter school teachers into the certification process, and in 2015-16 she served as a lead teacher in that program. Jackson is a past president of the National Council for the Social Studies and chaired its 2016 national convention in Washington, DC. She has also advocated for federal funding for civic learning programs.
Philosophy Into Practice
Jackson believes that quality civic learning is the cornerstone of her teaching. Her priorities are to make sure students understand the Constitution, the value of voting and the power of participatory democracy, and she sees We the People as a program that teaches students how to think, not what to think. She says that many students graduate without understanding their rights and responsibilities as citizens, and that when civics is not tested it is often not taught, especially in schools serving students in poverty.
She also cares about the standing of the teaching profession. She chose National Board Certification because it measures a teacher’s work by student learning, and she signs her name “Peggy Jackson, NBCT” rather than “Peggy Jackson, MA.”
“When I look at my students, I see unique and different “pictures” that each brings to my classroom.”Peggy Jackson
In Her Own Words
“Peggy, when you’re talking, you’re not learning.”Peggy Jackson, remembering her father
“WTP teaches students HOW to think, not what to think.”Peggy Jackson
“I believe that accountability has been an integral part of my work as a teacher.”Peggy Jackson
What Others Said
“Peggy loves her students, even long after they have graduated and become successful members of society.”Pat S. Graff, NBCT, nominator, colleague and supervisor
“Mrs. Jackson’s enthusiasm, her professionalism and her genuine concern for history and civic education are exemplary.”Todd Bibiano, former colleague and evaluator, Moriarty High School
“Watching Peggy’s videos showed me she had a deep passion for her students.”Belmonte, fellow National Board candidate and colleague
“I know of no one more suited for recognition in a teacher hall of fame than Ms. Jackson.”Jesse Schwebach, former student and humanities department chair, East Mountain High School