I am nominating Holly Mace for Educator of the Year. Mrs. Mace taught algebra at Brandywine Springs School. She moved schools this year, and she now teaches math at Conrad School of Science. I am nominating Mrs. Mace because she is a teacher who really loves what she does, and it shows by her commitment to all of her students and her work. Mrs. Mace always did everything she could to make sure we understood everything, she always wanted the best for us, and she was always there for me when I needed her. 

First, she always did everything she could to make sure I fully understood the lesson. Personally, once I fully understood what we were doing in math, I was very good at it, but sometimes I needed it explained a few times before I fully understood it. One thing she did to make sure I understood everything was teach it to the whole class, and then come around to tables individually to clarify questions anyone had. Also, she always was available during lunch for people to come up and get extra help. During lunch, she gave us extra practice and helped us work through any problems we had. In addition, she was in touch with all of the other teachers in the district teaching our course so we could get other explanations besides hers. If needed, she dedicated all her time to her students to make sure we understood everything and felt confident about it. 

Next, she wanted us to get good grades. She made practice tests before every test. She would make the practice tests have the same content as the real tests. This practice helped everyone greatly because we knew the kinds of questions that we needed to know, but at the same time we didn't have everything handed to us. We still needed to know how to solve the problems ourselves. Mrs. Mace also stayed after school for many hours finding extra worksheets to help us, and she found many videos of other people explaining the problems so we could choose which method we wanted to use. Her students were always her main focus, and it really showed.

Last, Mrs. Mace continued to help me and other students even after we were finished with her class. She taught me math when I was in seventh grade, and then when I went to eighth grade, I went into geometry, and I got a new teacher. Some of the times I had a hard time understanding the work when my teacher taught it, so most days at lunch I would go to Mrs. Mace’s class and she would explain it in a different way. As the year went on, more students started coming for lunch with me, and Mrs. Mace printed out worksheets and found videos of people explaining how to do the problems. This helped us so much, and her help is one of the main reasons I passed my math class in eighth grade.

Overall, Mrs. Mace was a very dedicated and hardworking teacher who wanted the best for her students. She was always very happy and rarely got mad or annoyed. It was my first class every day, so I always started off my day well. She was the most helpful and dedicated teacher I have ever had, so I truly think she deserves to win Educator of the Year.