Congratulations to Mrs. McAllister! She is Emerson Elementary's 2026-2027 Teacher of the Year! Mrs. McAllister is a phenomenal teacher and has truly earned this honor!
Mrs. McAllister has been teaching for nine years, and we have been lucky to have her at Emerson for seven of those years. She enjoys teaching science, social studies, and language arts. She really loves seeing her students find a book series that they enjoy reading. Mrs. McAllister enjoys teaching students about history and watching them learn from the past so that society doesn’t repeat the same mistakes again. She also enjoys seeing students experiment and create when science is being taught.
As a little girl, Mrs. McAllister always wanted to be a teacher. She grew up in her mother’s classroom and helped her mom out each year decorating and making copies for her mom's students. Mrs. McAllister enjoyed putting together educational games that the students would use in the classroom. She would watch her mom teach students and work so hard reaching each and every child in her classroom. Mrs. McAllsiter knew that she wanted to make that difference in children’s lives as well.
Outside of school, Mrs. McAllister enjoys hiking and camping with her family in the Smoky Mountains. She is mom to Lachlan (upcoming 10th grader) and Camille (upcoming 6th grader). Her favorite children’s book author was a tough choice. She narrowed it down for us to four authors. For picture books, she enjoys Eric Carle’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar because of his beautiful and colorful illustrations. She also enjoys Dr. Suess books because of all the nonsense words he uses. For chapter books, she enjoys Beverly Cleary because who doesn’t enjoy reading about a mouse and a motorcycle! Lastly, she enjoys reading Kate DiCamillo because she brings her characters to life, especially in The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.
A favorite quote of Mrs. McAllister is by Albert Einstein - “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”
Congratulations, Mrs. McAllister! You are very deserving of Teacher of the Year!