Award-winning Mascoutah teacher shares his secret to making math relevant
When touring schools across the state to choose their 2026 Excellence in Teaching Award winners, the Golden Apple team said one thing stood out about Joshua Veath, a fifth-grade teacher at Mascoutah Elementary.
“He gives people the ‘why’ behind math,” Golden Apple President Alan Mather said. “His efforts to keep learning relevant are something every (teacher) has to do.”
Veath is one of 10 Illinois teachers this year to receive the award, which recognizes educators who positively affect students’ growth, learning and lives. They were among 30 teachers who had been selected as the 2026 finalists out of hundreds of nominations.
The Golden Apple Team returned to Mascoutah Elementary on Wednesday to surprise Veath with the news at a special fifth-grade assembly.
“I was just so gracious just to be nominated by my principals. And then getting to the final 30, I was overwhelmed with just that,” Veath said. “This day was just ‘wow.’”
The road to winning a Golden Apple teaching award is rigorous and highly competitive, Mather previously explained to the BND. A teacher has to be nominated to apply for the award, and there were more than 600 nominations this year. What follows is a series of essays, observations of the finalists’ teaching, plus interviews with parents, other teachers, former students and more.
At the assembly, Veath told students the best part of the process was hearing what they had to say about him.
“Kiddos, tell the teachers how much you love them and how much we’ve affected and changed your life, because there is no greater feeling to any of us to know that we had that impact on you,” Veath said.
Veath’s first teaching job after graduating from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2009 was in Mascoutah. Today, he teaches math, science and social studies at the elementary school.
Veath said he makes students “dig deeper” to understand how concepts work and how to apply them in real life.
His students learn fractions by cutting bundt cakes, calculate reductions from retailers’ summer sales and create eruptions using hydrogen peroxide.
He said many of his examples this year are about sports because lots of his students are interested in athletics.
“I don’t want them to just know one-half plus one-half equals a whole,” Veath said. “I want them to know ‘why, how does it work?’ not just rote memorization (or) do the homework and be done.”
The best moments, Veath said, are “when they don’t realize they’re learning.”
Veath plans to continue applying his teaching philosophy when he steps into a new role as physical education teacher next school year. One lesson plan idea he has is to make games of tag involving addition or multiplication.
“I want to be that PE teacher who helps. I want to know ‘What can I do to make your job easier? What are your kids struggling with in kindergarten?’” Veath said.
Golden Apple Excellence in Teaching Award recipients receive a $5,000 cash award and a sabbatical that includes free Northwestern University classes of their choice. They also take a seminar class with an education-related project and become a fellow of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, where they will work with aspiring and early-career teachers.
“It’s not just about what you learn in college,” Veath said of young teachers. “You have to find a way to get in there and make it fun. Get to know your kids. Get to know their likes. Get to know their dislikes. Get to know their interests … and don’t mind being silly.”