I went to Saint John the Beloved School from Kindergarten through 8th grade. However, I have never had a teacher who has impacted my life as much as Mrs. Hart.

Mrs. Hart was my 6th grade English Language Arts teacher and my 7th and 8th grade Social Studies teacher. She is an amazing woman. The only time that I didn’t see a smile on her face was when she was scolding my class due to our rowdy behavior. Other than that, she always had the biggest, brightest smile upstairs, with a positive, optimistic attitude.

     Mrs. Hart wasn’t just a teacher, but a role model. She never let anyone in her classroom get picked on if she could help it. Even if it was a joke and the person making the comment, as well as the person receiving the comment knew that, she would still say something. She always told them to stop before it became more than a joke. Mrs. Hart also taught us responsibility and hard work ethic. If we made a mess, she would point us to the cleaning supplies. She wanted to show us how to do things on our own. She’s right, hard work does pay off.
   

 Another thing that Mrs. Hart did, was push us to our fullest potential. Now, don’t get me wrong, I definitely wasn’t the best student when it came to social studies. However, the way she taught the subject was extraordinary. Mrs. Hart always gave us extra information, which wasn’t in the textbook, to further our knowledge on certain topics. Mrs. Hart always had a project planned for us, some more fun than others. However, there was always a point to them, and they always had some information that you could walk away with. They did take time, but it wasn’t silly busy work. Mrs. Hart would give us specific topics, or sometimes we could pick them, but we would get in groups and research them. After we got the research, we would make a presentation and a quiz. We would present our projects then give the class a quiz at the end. So our projects taught us good note-taking skills, as well as teaching skills. Mrs. Hart knew how to push us, but it was never in excess. She also knew how to get our attention. One time in 6th grade, my class and I were sitting in class. We were all dozing off and slouched over in our chairs. I don’t remember exactly what she was teaching us, but I remember it had something to do with words sounding the same but having different meanings in different countries. Well, at one point Mrs. Hart shouted, “s***” and we all jumped out of our seats and turned around. You see, at a Catholic school, you don’t hear teachers curse at all. She explained to us that it means “bookshelf” in French. Then Mrs. Hart told us to pay attention. Mrs. Hart gave me an outstanding precedent in both social studies and English language arts.
     

One thing that I truly admire about Mrs. Hart, is the fact that she takes the time to know your daily emotion. This way when you’re upset, extremely happy, or a different emotion that you usually aren’t on regular basis, she can take the time to acknowledge it and ask “Is everything ok?”, or “Why are you so happy?”. Mrs. Hart is so easy to talk to and will always try her hardest to comfort you and calm you down. I know this because of one instance in my 8th grade year. I had been struggling for the last month of school with this math lesson; I could never get it down. I would study at home and give up my lunch time to receive one-on-one help from the teacher. Mrs. Hart noticed what I was doing because she would see me in the math classroom during our lunch period. Well, the big test finally came and… I blew it with a big, fat F. I got a 30 on the test after I spent a month studying for it. I was extremely upset. When I found out we had the opportunity to do test corrections, I was ecstatic. We got 30 minutes, and we had to correct the answers in order. Well, I had a question on the first problem, so I hurried to her desk, but there was already four people there. I had to wait. The one girl took 20 minutes and I was getting frustrated. The time ran out and I didn’t get to ask my question, so I didn’t get to correct any questions. My final grade after corrections… still a 30. I started to cry, and when I walked into the hallway my math teacher didn’t even say anything. However, Mrs. Hart pushed through about 20 8th graders to stop me. She asked what was wrong, so I told her. She told me not to let one bad grade get me down. Mrs. Hart said that as long as I studied and tried my best, that that was an A. She had her hand on my shoulder and knew exactly what to say. That is one moment I will never forget. It meant so much to me that Mrs. Hart had said something, because everyone else just walked by.

     I enjoyed being in Mrs. Hart’s classes throughout middle school. She was always a smiling, friendly face, but most of all, an amazing role model. The world would be perfect if we were all a bunch of Mrs. Harts. I know personally I want to be just like her when I'm older. I don’t know if you’re reading this or not Mrs. Hart, but if you are, I just want you to know that I really enjoyed being one of your students. I was going through so much emotional stress and school stress during 8th grade and those few words you said to me, honestly saved me. I needed to hear it. I just want to thank you for that and everything you’ve done for me. Mrs. Hart, you are by far my educator of the year. I couldn’t have imagined a better teacher. This is why I have decided to nominate for educator of the year. You really deserve it!!