When I first heard about this contest, Mrs. Sheehan was the first teacher who came to mind. She was my English teacher last year(eighth grade) and was someone I was really able to bond with. She teaches at Odyssey Charter School and was that one teacher that almost every student liked and wanted to be in her class. Lucky me, I was not only in her 1st/3rd block, but also in her homeroom, which happened in the morning and during dismissal. Mrs. Sheehan was an attentive teacher who allowed the students in her class to be independent. Along with that, she was witty and loved to share stories about her family, which allowed us to further connect with her. Finally, she was an extremely creative teacher who loved to use outside-of-the-box teaching methods that we all enjoyed. For these reasons and more, I would like to nominate Mrs. Sheehan for Educator of the Year.

Mrs. Sheehan always seemed very interested in our lives and how we were doing. My friends and I would usually talk to her during homeroom, while seeing her in the halls, and during class. She wanted to see us excel and often pushed us to work harder. My English teacher was someone we could talk to about personal issues, and she gave us a safe, entertaining environment. In class, she would always change up seating which would dictate who we would work with. This allowed our class to bond and really get to know each other. We also were frequently told to work on things independently, which, for me, was something that I loved.

Something else that was really common in class was hearing interesting little stories about her family or stories from my peers. Our class was based around novels more than a textbook, which would always spark stories from everyone. We all learned a lot about each other which helped our classroom dynamic. Mrs. Sheehan was hilarious and was always laughing or making us laugh. This made me really look forward to her class and got me eager to be there. Overall, I think her personality really drew the class in and caused us to be very motivated.

Last, but not least, Mrs. Sheehan always prepared interesting and effective class lessons. We played review games and ended class playing enjoyable quizzes on topics like the states or their capitals. Her projects varied and usually didn’t have rigid outlines. One of the last projects we did was on a novel called Whirligig. For this project she wanted us to create something that represents something from the book. A few of the students made whirligigs and some made social media pages for the characters, but I made a scrapbook of all the locations that were in the book. We also made our own commercials and shared them with the class. These unique projects were very fun but also helped us grasp the concepts we were learning. My English teacher allowed us to be creative, but still learn the information, which was my favorite part about her.

Mrs. Sheehan was different than any teacher I’ve had before; she really got her students excited about going to her class. She was good-natured, encouraging, and helped us to work independently. She had a great personality and was able to make us laugh. Due to this, I was able to become closer to her and the rest of the class. She also tailored the class around us and put time into making lively and effective lesson plans. Mrs. Sheehan was very organized and was a role model for many of her students.  Due to my experiences with Mrs. Sheehan, I believe she deserves to be one of the Educators of the Year.