ST. MARTIN PARISH — As students settle into the first full week of classes in St. Martin Parish, Rex Jones is starting the year with more than lesson plans. The Episcopal School of Acadiana teacher was named Louisiana History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute, recognition he says means more than just a title.
“I think I was just hoping and praying that, that other people will find value in what I was doing in the classroom,” Jones said.
Jones was nominated by a colleague and went through an application process that also put him in the running for the national honor. While that title ultimately went elsewhere, he says the recognition still feels personal.
“It’s just an affirmation to keep doing what I’m doing, keep having those fun experiences and to challenge the kids to be better and to read more and to learn more.”
His love for history goes back years.
“I knew it was gonna be history, my grandmother, when I was in high school bought me a lecture series from a college professor and you put it in the VHS and the DVD player and you would just watch the lecture at home.”
That interest also runs in the family, “I am like the third generation of history teacher in my family. My grandfather was a teacher my aunt was a teacher and we all did history.”
This year, a piece of that family legacy will hang in his own classroom for the first time — his grandfather’s teaching map from the 1950s.
Inside the classroom, Jones leans on creative methods to keep students engaged. One approach includes a Vietnam War playlist spanning 1965 to 1972, with music that helps students better grasp the era’s context.
“Kids read the lyrics to that music and we listen to it together and we discuss what people were responding to.”
He also pushes students to take on deep, detailed research, guiding them through projects like twelve-page essays on topics that connect both locally and nationally. “You know they’ve chosen topics from Louisiana dealing with coastal restoration after Katrina to testimonies that one of my students asked her teachers on campus — what do you remember about 9/11?”
The state recognition also brings support to his work: a $1,000 honorarium and a curated set of classroom resources from the Gilder Lehrman Institute, tools Jones says will directly benefit his students.
“That’s what being a teacher is, is finding out you know where your kids are and help them and try and meet them where they are.”
With the new school year just beginning, Jones says his goal is to bring energy and passion to his history classes from the very first day.
