In eighth grade I had a teacher named Mrs. Simon who taught English. She did so more than just teach me though. Mrs. Simon was a nice teacher who I respected and admired. I was one of the students who were grateful to have her as a teacher. She helped me get on my feet and get ready to start taking my first steps to help me accomplish what I dreamt of, and I am still working on that dream thanks to her.

Mrs. Simon was kind to her class at all times, and she never lost her temper. Not only was she a nice teacher, but she was fun too. She gave us fun writing projects to do, and she made up activities to help us learn the different writing traits. Going to her class never upset me because I knew there was no way I would be bored.

Not only was Mrs. Simon a fun teacher, but she was also very helpful when it came to improving writing. Always she told my class to work on vocabulary and try to use bigger synonyms to make the writing seem bolder and more interesting. Well after hearing her say that so much, when she assigned a paper and I found myself looking up synonyms for so many words just to try and make my writing seem more exciting. The more exciting it got, I noticed I didn’t have such plain writing anymore, and for that I have her to thank. But that was not all she helped me with. Mrs. Simon was always there to help with other things too. At some point in the year she had all of her classes write an autobiography. Before it was due, we had gone over my rough drafts many times until the final deadline. When my paper was presented, she congratulated me for such great work, but I never would have gotten there if she didn’t take the time to help me revise over and over.

The one thing though, that Mrs. Simon helped me with that meant the most to me was with my poetry. I wrote a couple poems down and decided to show them to her. She took an interest in them and agreed to help me, and tell me what she thought of them. She read the poems, and told me she liked them because of the detail I used to tell what it was I saw. When I heard that, I thought I should keep writing because I had confidence that what I was doing was something great. Mrs. Simon helped me by telling me her thoughts, but she helped me even more by pushing me to try and get my poems published. In her spare time she looked up websites that I could use to my advantage to get published. I wanted so badly to have one of my poems published; she knew that, and she helped me out. I now have the determination to start on my way in that direction, because she took the time to help me; I never would have gotten so far if she didn’t help me.
Mrs. Simon was an amazing teacher, and I’m happy to have had her as my instructor. I want her to know that I am thankful for what she has done for me. And since she has helped me start on my dream I will continue on with it which I am, writing as much as I can along the way. Mrs. Simon helped me realize what I can do, and she helped me take my first step in that direction. Now I know I can go further, because she cared and lent a helping hand. Thank you Mrs. Simon. You are my nomination for Teen Ink’s 2011 Educator of the Year.