MADISON – Liberty Middle School recognized Edwin Watson’s exemplary work and selected him as “Teacher of the Year.”

Watson works at Liberty as a teacher in special education for collaborative math and English language arts for grades 6-8.

“I’m head seventh-grade boys basketball coach and assistant coach for Liberty Lions Football Team. Since I’ve been coaching at Liberty, I have had the pleasure of winning three county championships in football in 2019, 2022 and 2023 and two county championships in basketball in 2019 and 2023,” Watson said.

However, after college, Watson ventured into the industrial workforce – not education — for many years. His last ‘industrial’ job was a government contractor with Redstone Arsenal.

“During that time, I volunteered with youths in Huntsville and Madison. I’ve worked as a summer camp counselor, tutor, mentor, game official and coach among other things,” Watson said.

In 2014, he decided to pursue a career in education. “That journey provided an opportunity to gain experience working at Williams and Discovery middle schools, Sparkman S9 and Bob Jones High School,” Watson said.

Watson believes a good teacher knows how to develop and implement effective strategies to equip their students with needed tools for classroom success. “All students do not learn at the same pace, same way or even in the same environment,” he said.

“I counter this through small-group assessments to provide students with the opportunity to ask questions for understanding, provide a quieter environment and re-teach concepts they aren’t sure about,” he said. “It’s my responsibility as a teacher to be an effective diagnostician of students’ interests, abilities and prior knowledge.”

“A good teacher must understand the impact of positive peer interactions to develop effective learning strategies,” Watson said.

Watson likes to engage students to communicate through discussions and questions. “I’m driven to find a solution to improve communication skills for students that are shy or don’t have the confidence to orally communicate with their peers,” he said.

“Working with students to develop critical-thinking skills opens the door for them to gain confidence and comfort to add relative comments to classroom discussions,” Watson said. “Effective use of communication skills is impactful to facilitate student learning.”

A native of Montgomery, Watson graduated from Alabama A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in special education.

Back in his hometown of Montgomery in 2010, Watson founded and organized an All Class Reunion for his alma mater, Carver High School. “We host thousands of attendees annually,” he said.

Away from work, his hobbies include his children’s sporting events, traveling, graphic designing and cooking.