educator of the year | Teen Ink

educator of the year

October 7, 2014
By DylanStachowiak SILVER, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
DylanStachowiak SILVER, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
7 articles 0 photos 0 comments


Educator of the Year
As I walk into US history on the first day of my sophomore year, there stands a man who looks like he could bench press a two ton truck ten times.  Going into Mr. Herriot class for the first time I didn’t know what to think about him, Mr. started off talking to us as we were adults and I for some reason like that alot.  I felt a lot more respected, and from that day on i knew i would like that class.
Mr. Heriot stands around 5’5 maybe 5’6 on a good day, but he seriously looks like he could snap me in half with one hand.  Mr. Heriot knows  how to get everyone involved in the class discussion, and being a track coach, he has a track whistle and if anyone even tried to take a little nap, he would quietly walk up to the kid and blow the whistle as loud as he could. His goal was to try and get the person to wet their pants.  This would never make me sleep in his class.
As a normal high school boy, I never enjoyed social studies or anything to do with history.  But the way that Mr. Heriot teaches his classes and the stories he tells makes me want to learn about history.  One of my favorite things Mr. Herriot would do was after every test or quiz we would have we would hear “ Dylan Comonn downn” as if Mr. Heriot was a game show host.   The made me feel as if i was at the price is right game show and i would always look forward to the days after a test.
Mr. Chris Heriot knows how to interact with high schools students like wearing all white jordans every friday making jokes that other teachers would never even try to say and everyone would be interested in his classes.  Mr. Heriot knows what a high school likes and doesn't like.  He knows high school students hate taking notes, doing homework, listening to long boring lectures, and most of all, completing long nights of reading page after page after page.  So to make us better students, and actually try in his class, he made note taking easier by us just filling in the blanks. When he talked, he would make it super fun and enjoyable to listen to, and we would never have homework and never read out of class. 
At some points throughout the year, I thought Mr. Heriot was a high school student.  He said  slang terms in the middle of class that would go with what we were learning.  He wasn’t  afraid to ask us or talk with us about some weird subjects and most of all, he would wear his all white Jordans almost every Friday. Thank you, Mr. Herriot, for making me want to learn about US history and thank you for making my last part of my day the best.



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