Have you ever had a class that you looked forward to everyday taught by a teacher who genuinely cared for his students? I have, it was math in 7th and 8th grade. The material wasn't all that interesting, but my teacher, Mr. Fitzhugh (Mr. Fitz) would make class exciting and fun. Some students find the subject of math difficult and boring, but because I had such a great teacher, I learned the subject very well and had fun while doing it. For these reasons and many more, I believe that Mr. Fitz should be Educator of the Year.

I feel that a superior teacher is one who teaches the material correctly and thoroughly while making their students feel comfortable and confident. As a teacher, your job is to teach students a certain subject or material that you specialize in, and that is the main priority of a teacher. Mr. Fitz wasted no time covering the material; when we came in the classroom, he already had the class period planned out and a warm up on the board. This is a great quality about Mr. Fitz because he maximized the amount of time that we spent learning, increasing our chances of retaining the information. Also, Mr. Fitz always made his students comfortable by answering all of their questions and never making them feel left out. He never would make you feel that you asked a bad question, and even if you did, he would answer it without making you feel incompetent. Since Mr. Fitz made everyone feel comfortable, the whole atmosphere of the classroom was more positive than other classrooms I have been in.  As a teacher, Mr Fitz satisfied the two main priorities of being a teacher, which is one of the reasons that he should receive the EOY award.

As a teacher making your students comfortable is one of your main priorities; having good personality and being kind and patient makes this happen. Having a great personality, like Mr. Fitz, makes the whole class feel comfortable and willing to learn. Since Mr. Fitz makes the whole atmosphere better, the students are calmer and listen more to what he says. The more the students listen to the teacher, the more they will learn. Also, Mr. Fitz was kind and patient; these traits made students respect him even more. If someone was having problems on a test or a specific problem, Mr. Fitz would work with you 1-on-1 until you understood. Also, his kind personality always made students confident when asking questions because he would never turn them down. Overall, Mr. Fitz’s kind personality and patient attitude allowed students to learn more in his class.

Mr. Fitz was a teacher that wanted his students to learn, comprehend the material, and perform well on exams, and he took time out of his day to make sure that it happened. He would hold after school math help everyday unless he had a meeting, and he would work with students that were struggling. This helped me very much in particular because some of the units that we learned were very confusing, but his guidance helped me understand the material. If he did not hold after school help sessions, I might not have been so successful in math. Also, Mr. Fitz would always allow test and quiz corrections. This allowed students an opportunity to improve their grade while understanding where they once lacked understanding. Since we all had the opportunity to correct our quizzes, we achieved better grades on tests because everyone knew how to correct their mistakes. Mr. Fitz’s desire was for all students to comprehend math material and perform to their best ability; encouraging test corrections and after school help allowed all of us to achieve that.

In conclusion, Mr. Fitz is an outstanding teacher and an excellent overall person. He always strived for everyone to feel comfortable in his classroom and consistently maximized the amount of time we spent learning. Also, Mr. Fitz had a kind, patient and caring personality, so everyone always respected him, and no one was ever scared or hesitant to ask questions. Lastly, he wanted his students to perform to the best of their ability and comprehend the material completely. For these reasons, Mr. Fitzhugh deserves to receive the award for Educator of the Year.