Jacqueline T. Smith is an English Language Learner Special Education Inclusion Teacher at Hart Middle School.

Ms. Jacqueline T. Smith is a proud DCPS alumna – having attended LaSalle Elementary, Rabaut Junior High School, and Wilson High School – and is honored to teach in the system that educated her. She first aspired to become a teacher in third grade, and has been an educator for 33 years – 24 of which have been spent in DCPS.

Ms. Smith was inspired to work in special education when she witnessed some of her classmates making fun of an adult with disabilities. She decided then that she was going to work to help disabled students. She makes her lessons relevant to her students by acting out anecdotes from her life, and she finds happiness in seeing students discover their love of learning. She says, “I love teaching because it gives me joy to see a student blossom from not thinking they can learn, to being a student who loves to learn.”

When she is not teaching, Ms. Smith enjoys traveling and has made recent trips to Australia, China, and Hong Kong.