Fifth-grade teacher Minnie Tidwell was selected as outstanding educator at West Madison Elementary School.

Minnie Tidwell teaches fifth grade at West Madison.

Tidwell, West Madison’s Teacher of the Year, has taught there since 2005. From 2000-2005, Tidwell taught fifth grade at Robinson Middle School in Aurora, Mo.

She is originally from Bowling Green, Mo. “My parents and family still live there,” Tidwell said.

One student “– my first student — will always hold a special place in my heart. His name is Marquane,” Tidwell said. “Our story is a special one. I worked with him for three years from the time he was in the second grade.”

“Marquane taught me a great deal about a child’s desire to learn and the ability of the spirit to overcome all odds to do so,” she said.

Tidwell said she loves love teaching so much because she “gets to be with children every day. It’s not work to me.”

Majoring in elementary education, Tidwell earned a bachelor’s degree at Missouri Baptist College in St. Louis in 2000. She graduated with a 4.0 grade point average. She earned a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction at William Woods University in 2004.

In Missouri, she served as secretary of the Aurora Education Association and on the Fight Free Committee and School Intervention Team at Robinson middle.

At West Madison, Tidwell served as chairman of the Space Week committee and on the budget committee and Literary Team for two years each. She has completed training in fifth- and sixth-grade science with the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) and with the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI).

The Huntsville Association of Technical Societies (HATS) awarded a grant to Tidwell. She has served as grade level chairperson at West Madison.

Her daughters are Kara Hooper, 23, and Kimberly Hooper, 20. They both attend Calhoun Community College. “Kara works at Huntsville Hospital and plans to become a nurse. Kimberly currently works at JCPenny and hopes to join the U.S. Air Force at the end of the 2012-2013 school year,” Tidwell said.