My favorite teacher of all time? The answer to this question is simple. My eighth grade English teacher was by far my most influential teacher ever. As a freshman in high school, I have had many different types of teachers, and Mr. Michalcewiz is a huge factor in my success so far. “Mr. Mike”, as we all called him, was an outstanding teacher. His class was extremely enjoyable; he was very passionate about his teaching, and most importantly he helped prepare me for high school.

Mr. Mike made my eighth grade year of English very enjoyable, and I never dreaded going to his class. For example, the books we read were amazing and interesting. The Smell of Other People’s Houses and A Long Way Gone were two great novels that Mr. Mike introduced to the class. Everyone loved these books, and we had great discussions on them. Also, Mr. Mike was a passionate and positive type of person at school. The students knew that he really loved his job and that he cared about what he did. The great stories I remember him sharing with us made his classroom something to remember. In one of his stories, he explained to us the importance of his high school grades and how much his GPA mattered. This single story changed my perspective about my high school goals and majorly helped me. Importantly, he let us be independent learners. In class, we never had assigned seats, which we were very grateful for. Also, we were given extra time on assignments that needed to be completed, and he was very fair with his deadlines.

In addition to having a very enjoyable class, Mr. Mike has been known to be the favorite teacher at Springer for years. He offered different types of after school help to his students. This would include homework help, test corrections, and help studying for the HSPT (High School Placement Test). On top of all the extra help he provided, he always motivated us to do well. Mr. Mike influenced everyone by teaching interesting and meaningful information, and told us about past students’ success. Giving students extra credit as an incentive to do better was also a huge motivator. During the school week, Mr. Mike would also support the athletics at Springer by coming out to events, and he would cheer us on. Students related to him because he knew all about different sports and could talk to us about them. I even had the chance to see Mr. Mike outside of school because his son was on my cross country team. Not only did he run with my team at practice, but we also developed a great relationship along the way.

Most importantly, Mr. Mike made sure that we were well prepared for high school. He stressed organization and structure, and made sure we were using our agendas properly. Another type of structure he taught us was time management. Using my agenda and time correctly made high school work much easier. He pushed for us to become more independent and to speak for ourselves. The skills he taught have made me rely less on my parents, and made me more independent. Lastly, Mr. Mike was a big help to us in choosing the high school that we would attend. I was weighing two different high schools for several months, and I appreciated his opinions. He was such a good resource to all of the eighth graders because of how long he has lived in Delaware, and how knowledgeable he is about the Delaware schools. 

I was lucky to have had Mr. Michalcewiz as an eighth grade English teacher, and now that I am in high school, I appreciate my time with him. His sense of positivity and fun personality encouraged me to continue to do well in school, and to always do my best. He really helped start my high school career off on the right foot. If I had to nominate any teacher for Educator of the Year, I would easily choose Mr. Michalcewiz.