Lisa Mellott
Exceptional Education Teacher, Maddox Intermediate School
Words by Alyson Robbins | Image by Ryan McGill
Every Child Can Learn—Lisa Mellot’s philosophy of education after three decades of teaching exceptional students.
Instrumental music plays softly in the background of a camping-themed classroom. Lisa picks up a yellow Post-It note from her desk and reads aloud Galatians 6:9: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.”
Lisa says the verse is her encouragement for the month — a verse that encapsulates her efforts from 36 years in education, 24 of those years with Jasper City Schools.
Lisa’s love for children and heart for community service led to a profession in special education. While studying at the University of Montevallo, Lisa worked at a speech and hearing clinic and was placed in a self-contained classroom for her practicum. These experiences solidified her desire to work with students who “need just a little bit of help, that extra push.”
Lisa’s career with JCS began at North Highland School in 1999, and she later moved to Maddox Middle School to teach the self-contained class. During her tenure, Lisa was instrumental in providing tutoring & enrichment opportunities at the 21st Century Community Learning Center as both a teacher and program coordinator.
Upon the completion and opening of the new Jasper High School and Jasper Junior High, Lisa was afforded the opportunity to move up with current students. Class projects centered around culinary arts empowered exceptional students with transferable skills preparing them for careers.
Lisa returned to Maddox five years ago as the resource teacher where she encountered new challenges as a seasoned educator.
Lisa says, “Last year Miss Byrd came in and said, ‘this is the way third grade does division.’ I watched them do it and said, ‘I’ve got to quit!’”
Quitting has never been a viable option for her students, so Lisa became a student herself. She decided to sit in math class and learn alongside the same students who come to her resource room. It was not long before she exclaimed, “I got it! I can keep teaching!”
Recently named Maddox Intermediate School’s Teacher of the Year, Lisa says it is an honor for which she is grateful. “So many are deserving,” she says of her coworkers.
Lisa recalls some of the changes during her career. “When I first started everything was handwritten,” she says. She was teaching at North Highland when computers were first brought to the classroom. During staff training, they were told to “boot up” the computer. Lisa laughs and says she had no idea what that meant.
A favorite memory is witnessing a boy with cerebral palsy cut his hair. Horrified, Lisa called home and the mother’s response was unexpected: “Please let him. I didn’t think he ever would.”
Teaching—working selflessly for the betterment of students—is sure to cause weariness, yet Lisa’s passion and love are the driving forces behind doing good in all seasons. The impact she has on her students and their families emanates throughout the community and beyond. 78