Melissa Grayson, who teaches seventh-grade math, is the 2014 Teacher of the Year at Discovery Middle School. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Melissa Grayson is the 2014 Teacher of the Year at Discovery Middle School. She also earned this honor in 2008.

Next school year, Grayson again will teach seventh-grade math, along with a new elective course. She serves as seventh-grade lead teacher and represents Discovery on the district math leadership team.

“I’m really proud watching my students develop an understanding and appreciation for math … and when a struggling student finally makes a connection and understands a concept,” Grayson said.

She enjoys getting to know students and “watching them become wonderful young men and women.” The best reward is “having a student come back later to tell you how much you meant to them or how much they appreciate you.”

One such student still contacts her. Years ago, this boy walked into Grayson’s classroom and said he hated math, would never like math and would fail her class “guaranteed.”

Grayson asked him to give her some time and hopefully he would feel better about the class. “He might not love math but at least no longer hate it,” she said.

By yearend, the student told Grayson he “did not love math but it was no longer a class he hated.” In high school, he returned and “told me that I was the first teacher who had never given up on him because of his attitude.”

“To this day, he still calls me once a year to see how I’m doing and to remind me never to give up on any of my students,” Grayson said.

Grayson was selected to train other teachers throughout the state for the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI). Throughout the years, she has served on numerous district committees.

Grayson earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a master’s degree from Walden University. She has taught at Discovery since 2001.

Her husband Todd works as a senior cyber-security engineer at Booz Allen Hamilton. Their son Drew is 18 months old.