MADISON – Nancy Brandon finds reward in watching students succeed and taking pride in their accomplishments. She is Rainbow Elementary School’s “Teacher of the Year.”

“My biggest challenge is to protect childhood … We put them into situations in which they instantly feel success or failure,” Brandon said about keeping perspective.

A first-grade teacher, Brandon serves on the English Language Arts committee, numerous leadership teams and as a mentor for student teachers.

“Students begin each year dependent learners and leave independent thinking powerhouses,” Brandon said.

This year, Brandon and media specialist Dixie Paschal completed collaborative research to teach students about informational text by writing their own. The four-week project evolved into two months.

Pascal facilitated small groups in the library as students selected an insect to research. “My first-graders found pictures (online), saved them to their U drive, added captions with a ‘wow word’ explained in their glossary and emailed caption pages to Mrs. Paschal to print in color,” Brandon said.

“Their books included numerous illustrations, diagrams, dedication and caption pages, ‘Meet the Author,’ glossary and a report,” Brandon said. “The process was exciting and ever-changing.”

Brandon constantly remembers “one very incredible teacher” who stopped her in the hall as Brandon “hastily zipped” along. “She simply said, ‘You’ll never get it all done. Tomorrow is another day.'”

“As for students, my heart always goes out to those underdogs: The children who need someone on their side, someone to believe in them, even when they don’t believe in themselves,” Brandon said.

She earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Brandon also has taught at Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary School, Charleston, S.C., 1990 Teacher of the Year; Suburban Park School, Norfolk, Va.; Kingston Elementary School, Virginia Beach, Va., 1998 Reading Teacher of the Year; and Madison Elementary School.

Her husband Stewart Brandon Sr. works as a project manager with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Their sons are 1st Lt. Stewart Brandon Jr., an aeronautical engineer in U.S. Air Force, and Spencer Brandon, a University of Alabama student.