Horn Lake’s Corbin Named Teacher of Year — She Tries to Make Math Fun for Students

By Jimmie Covington covington@desotoappealcom

Using music, cha-cha dance steps and x and y coordinates marked by string on the floor, teacher Michelle Corbin led an eighth-grade class through a mathematical exercise at Horn Lake Middle School.

An upbeat, energetic Corbin, 28, was constantly on the move throughout the room, directing the steps of the students and asking them to tell her the mathematical description of the block in which they wound up at the end of their movements.

The activity was an exercise in “coordinate plane system.”

Corbin – a teacher for 4 1/2 years, including the last year and a half at Horn Lake Middle – is the DeSoto School District’s teacher of the year this year.

In a school district statement, Horn Lake Middle Principal George Loper said Corbin, a seventh- and eighth-grade pre-algebra teacher, has extraordinary talent.

“She is by far one of the most energetic and enthusiastic individuals that I have worked with in my 20 years as a professional educator,” Loper said. “She makes her classroom come alive. She is well loved by her students and well respected by her peers.”

Corbin, who grew up in California and is a graduate of Delta State University, was selected for the honor by a committee of school administrators, other educators and community representatives.

Criteria include educational philosophy, leadership skills, innovative classroom techniques, professional development and peer evaluations.

Corbin lived 20 years in California before her father was transferred here in his business. Her desire to be a teacher began in her childhood.

“My grandmother was a teacher and my mom worked in kindergarten,” she said. “I always thought I wanted to teach the third grade, but I ended up not doing that. I enjoy the seventh and eighth grade.

“I love those kids. They are wonderful. They are full of surprises. You never know what to expect. It is just a real neat age to work with.”

She said she never thought she would teach math, but she said, “I teach math and I love it.”

Corbin said she took a course in early education mathematics at Delta State and the professor “was just wonderful. She made me really enjoy the subject area. This is what kind of got me thinking I wanted to teach math.”

She said she tries to make mathematics as much fun as she can and relate it to real life experience.

“Not very many students like math, especially at this age,” she said. “When I was their age, you came in, the teacher showed you some examples on the board, and then you did textbook pages 1-20.”

Corbin said the texbook is used for some problems in her classes “but mainly I like to show them how to do something and then we try to figure out how they are going to use it in their everyday lives. We do some sort of hands-on activity. … It is interesting to watch them find out how actually much they use it (mathematics).”

After graduation from Delta State, Corbin began teaching kindergarten in Indianola. Wanting to teach older students, she went to Cleveland as a seventh-grade math teacher. When her husband’s job transferred him to DeSoto County, she was hired at Horn Lake Middle.

“I met my husband (Brian Corbin) at Delta State, so now I am a Southern girl,” she said.

The couple have a 21-month-old daughter, Peyton. The family lives in Horn Lake.

Corbin said she didn’t expect to be chosen the district’s teacher of the year. “I was extremely pleased and honored to even be considered for it,” she said.

She is involved in the Mississippi Association of Middle Level Educators, the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics and the National Middle School Association.

At Horn Lake Middle, she serves as a team leader, works as a liaison between staff members and the administration and serves as a mentor for new teachers at the school.

In a district statement, DeSoto Schools Supt. Milton Kuykendall said Corbin goes the extra mile and “gives her students the tools they need to reach and exceed their goals.”

– Jimmie Covington: (901) 333-2010

——————–

Teacher of the Year

Name: Michelle Corbin

Age: 28

School: Horn Lake Middle

Why she likes teaching seventh- and eighth-graders: “They are full of surprises. You never know what to expect. It is just a real neat age to work with.”

——————–