Rockwood South PE Teacher Earns MOSHAPE State Teacher of the Year Award

Rockwood South Middle physical education teacher Joe Jackson is Missouri Society of Health and Physical Educators (MOSHAPE) state Middle School Teacher of the Year for 2025.

Jackson is one of eight physical education teachers from around the state to be honored by MOSHAPE this year and the only middle school educator. 

"A couple of my mentors when I was student-teaching have won MOSHAPE Teacher of the Year, so it’s something I’ve always looked up to," Jackson said. "It’s really cool to get.”

MOSHAPE award winners are recognized for their outstanding contributions to health and physical education and are selected based on criteria that reflect a comprehensive and high-quality program that includes standards-based instruction, implementation of best teaching practices in health and physical education, the application of effective classroom assessment strategies and active advocacy for the profession.

Jackson is in his 12th year as a physical education teacher, including seven in Rockwood and five at Rockwood South.

"I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I like being active, and I like helping other people learn how to be active," he said. "I’d like for my students to learn how to be healthy and physically active and carry that on the rest of their lives so they can lead happy, healthy lives."

Jackson and his fellow state Teachers of the Year will be celebrated at an awards banquet Nov. 15 at the Lodge of Four Seasons in Lake Ozark. He is also now eligible to be considered in the SHAPE America Central District - which includes Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming - and National Teacher of the Year programs.

Jackson was named Rockwood South's Teacher of the Year for the 2024-2025 school year and has been instrumental in helping launch the unified physical education class at the school, which provides students the opportunity to learn and practice a variety of fundamental movement skills while participating in various games, sports and team-building activities.

"This is a big confidence-booster, but I never want to sit back and think I’m done. There are always ways to improve and get better,” he said. "I’m proud of how the unified class is developing, and I really like how we’re using skills-based health here. It’s kind of taking off all over Missouri, and we’re doing that a lot here at South, so that’s really cool. We're doing things that we know kids are going to enjoy."