There are several things that all great educators have in common. Great teachers must know the subject they teach and they must understand how to relate their knowledge to the students that they teach. A great teacher should also be a fantastic role model for the student. Finally, a great educator should be able to help every student understand the topic they are teaching regardless of that student’s background. My Educator of the Year Nominee, Mr. Hutchins, has every one of these qualities.

A teacher who is nominated for Educator of the Year should know the topic they are teaching thoroughly. Mr. Hutchins understands the topic of science better than any science teacher I have ever known. During his weather lesson, Hurricane Irene was impending. In class, he showed us the factors of the storm and approximately where it would hit and when. He accurately predicted the path because he knew the subject that he was teaching. Mr. Hutchins was also able to explain the hardest of theories and topics of astronomy. For example, he was able to explain that the universe might have an end and it is constantly expanding; he showed his students that light-years aren’t actually time but a distance. Without thoroughly understanding astronomy, he would not have been able to explain these topics to his students in a way that would be meaningful and interesting.

Along with knowing the subject they teach, a great teacher should also be a role model. Mr. Hutchins is a role model for all of the students at the school, and even to some of the other teachers. If you are to ask a person on the street who would be their role model, they might say a person in the armed services. Mr. Hutchins joined the Marines before he entered the education field, serving as a role model to the students and staff at the school. A teacher that is a good role model would always dress nicely. Mr. Hutchins is never seen in school, except on field day, without dress pants, button-down shirt, and a tie. It would be 100 degrees outside, and he would still wear the shirt and tie. That is being a good role model to the students.

Understanding the topic they teach and being a good role model are important in order to be a great teacher, but the most significant quality to be an excellent teacher is to have every student understand the topic. Mr. Hutchins is able to do that. He is able to get kids with different kinds of learning styles to understand the topic by incorporating different learning techniques into the lesson. In the astronomy lesson involving the Earth’s revolution around the sun, he would talk about the topic to help the auditory learners understand. He then would show a video about it to help the visual learners understand. Finally, he then would use a tennis ball for the Earth and flashlight for the Sun to help the kinesthetic learners understand. He is also able to teach the highest phase a lesson, and then teach the same lesson to the lowest phase and have them understand it equally. He is able to do this by making it simpler for the kids in the lower phase.

If you are to ask a student what qualities an excellent teacher should have, they will say the teacher should understand the topic, be a good role model, and be able to teach kids with different learning abilities and styles. My 8th grade science teacher Mr. Hutchins has every one of those qualities; a great teacher like Mr. Hutchins should be named Educator of the Year.