‘Master mentor’ could give East St. Louis its second Illinois Teacher of the Year

Spend just 20 minutes in Nina McLean’s classroom at James Avant Elementary School, and you’ll see why she’s a finalist for Illinois Teacher of the Year.

The students aren’t sitting silently listening to a lecture, only to fill out worksheets. They’re creating books and PowerPoints, because, as the 5th grade English Language Arts teacher always says, every child learns differently.

After the day is over, she has many visitors. Some are jovial, just stopping in to say hello or to return supplies. Then a girl comes in, clearly flustered. She lost her sweater.

“You left it over in Miss Sally’s class, remember?” McLean kindly says. The students’ expression softens. Instant calm.

McLean was recently named Illinois Southern Regional Teacher of the Year by the state board of education. With this title, she’s one of 13 finalists for Teacher of the Year, the state’s highest honor for classroom teachers. The top teacher will be announced later this spring.

“I’m honored and humbled at the same time because I realized this: There are probably 55 to 60 other teachers who could be honored the same way I am,” McLean said. “The teachers in this district pour so much into these students — and not just in this district, but all over, so I’m sure everyone else in the (finalist) cohort feels the same.”

McLean stands to be the second District 189 educator to be an Illinois Teacher of the Year; Briana Morales, an ELA teacher at Gordon Bush Alternative Center holds the 2023 title.

There are many reasons why Avant principal Quanshanda Nicholson and the school district nominated McLean in particular.

Throughout the community, McLean is known as a master mentor, Nicholson said. One of McLean’s biggest points of pride, she said, is spearheading Avant’s instructional leadership team, which focuses on how teachers can improve and be supported. She also is involved in multiple youth mentoring groups.

That team also received an “Award of Excellence” from ISBE.

To also ensure Avant students succeed outside the classroom, she helped start a program where, through advice from entrepreneurs and banks, 5th graders and their families learn about financial literacy to prepare for college.

On top of all of this, she’s a mom of six, is pursuing a doctorate degree and is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. She was recently at a post that trained people to be military police officers.

It’s just another example of how education extends into every aspect of her life, she said.

“Learning and education are a fundamental part of who I am and what I love,” McLean said. “I truly believe that education is the key to finding one’s purpose (and) that with it, there are no limits to what one can achieve.”

Teaching in the ‘City of Champions’

Having moved constantly while growing up in a military family, McLean didn’t view “home” in a traditional sense. It’s not so much about where she lived the longest, but about what felt right.

For her, that became East St. Louis.

McLean and her siblings only sporadically visited, and later lived in, the city for a few months. So, her mother’s vibrant stories of growing up in East St. Louis, like running track before Jackie Joyner-Kersee did, filled in McLean’s concept of “home.”

“They called it ‘the city of champions,’ and I think we grew up thinking it was the city of champions for real,” McLean said. “(Mom) talked a lot about how much the teachers poured into them, and that sense of community and that ‘everybody’s going to make it.’ That’s what East St. Louis was really about.”

So, after a stint in Germany and substitute teaching in the military school system, it was natural that she’d continue her career at District 189.

“I was like, ‘I have to teach in this community and give back,’” McLean said.

McLean has been giving back to the community for 25 years. And she consistently sees her students live up to its moniker, despite any obstacles they may face.

It’s evident in tangible achievements, like how her 5th graders scored higher than the state average on standardized testing in English and language arts in both 2023 and 2024, or how they gifted almost 300 teddy bears and cards to children in the hospital for this year’s “impact project.”

There are also the letters of thanks written by students she inspired to join the military.

But McLean said she sees her students excel in ways that cannot be quantified. There’s the empathetic way her students listened to the story of a family who lost their child to cancer – the same girl who inspired this year’s impact project. And, when a new student came in at a much lower reading level than the other 5th graders, the other students welcomed him with open arms, McLean gushed.

“I’m proud of the fact that our class is a warm place where students who do come in struggling are still accepted and loved,” McLean said.

Any parent or educator will tell you children mirror adults. That’s why, Nicholson said, all of these moments reflect who McLean is.

“She models how to be helpful, and the students take on that quality as well,” Nicholson said.

Other metro-east educators honored

Along with its regional teacher of the year awardees, the Illinois State Board of Education has many awards for others who help schools run. Here are those celebrated from the metro-east:

▪ Monet Webster, Belleville School District 118: Award of Special Recognition, School Administrator

▪ Kayla-Marie Hosier, Belleville Township High School District 201: Award of Special Recognition, Early Career Educator

▪ Teagan Gross, BTHS District 201: Award of Excellence, Classroom Teacher

▪ Amber Phillips, Whiteside School District 115: Award of Special Recognition, Classroom Teacher

▪ Melanie Hundsdorfer, Grant Community Consolidated School District 110: Award of Special Recognition, Classroom Teacher

▪ Kate DeMonica, O’Fallon Community Consolidated School District 90: Award of Special Recognition, Classroom Teacher

▪ Stephanie Watkins, O’Fallon District 90: Award of Special Recognition, Educational Service Personnel

▪ Bradley Sahr, O’Fallon Township High School District 203: Award of Excellence, Classroom Teacher

▪ Abigail Dicandia, East St. Louis School District 189: Award of Special Recognition, Classroom Teacher

▪ Jazlyn Stanciel, ESTL 189: Award of Meritorious Service, Student Support Personnel

▪ Tyonna Woodhouse, ESTL 189: Award of Meritorious Service, Educational Service Personnel

▪ Joe McGinnis, Collinsville Community School District 10: Award of Meritorious Service, School Administrator

▪ Kendra Cline, Collinsville CUSD 10: Award of Meritorious Service, Classroom Teacher

▪ Kyle Gordon, Collinsville CUSD 10: Award of Meritorious Service, Classroom Teacher

▪ Michele Sheahan, Collinsville CUSD 10: Award of Special Recognition, Classroom Teacher

▪ Stacy Deadmond, CUSD District 10: Award of Special Recognition, Educational Service Personnel