Nominate Your Teacher to Win $100 to Office Max!

I LOVE my son’s teacher this year. Mr. Funk has been teaching 2nd grade for 15 years. 15 years of 7-8 year olds means an undoubted passion and dedication to teaching! My son has only been in school a few weeks, but so far Mr. Funk has been innovative with a program he calls “Show and Teach”. The kids get to choose a project to teach their classmates about. It can be simple or complicated, whatever the students want! The first time they did this, a child taught his whole class how to make “Silly Putty” out of Elmer’s Glue and Liquid starch. The class then got to make some to take home. I love that Mr. Funk is teaching the kids to speak in front of others and to think outside the usual curriculum to learn things they would otherwise not know about.

I don’t usually do things like this but after this morning I’m determined not to let this opportunity pass.

My son is in his first year of middle school and he had the greatest experience with his 6th grade teacher last year. He is quiet and rarely initiates conversations with adults. This morning as I was dropping off my daughter at elementary school, my son saw Mr. Knox outside. My son rolled down his window and yelled “Hi Mr. Knox!” They had a quick conversation and my son was able to tell him he made the school flag football team. Mr. Knox had encouraged him to play last year. Needless to say Mr. Knox was excited for him.

Mr. Knox has a very healthy atmosphere in his classroom to encourage learning. His students feel comfortable participating and expressing their thoughts and feelings. He fought to the end to get my son on a special program to ensure a positive experience in middle school. He takes his class to science camp every year. He is the teacher that my son will remember throughout his life as the teacher that made a difference. Mr. Knox encouraged him in areas where my son had difficulties. He was approachable and positive. He had high expectations of his students and his students stepped up.

My son is not the only one in the class that felt this way. I was the room parent for Mr. Knox, I asked a student to represent the class at the end of the year to make a tribute to Mr. Knox while I presented the gift. It amazed me as the students in the class wanted to make their comments. For the next hour, many of the students stood and thanked, complimented and appreciated Mr. Knox. He was obviously the favorite teacher. He was not easy, but it was easy for each child to feel his dedication and passion for teaching. Of course, $100.00 would be greatly appreciated and put to good use but I am nominated Mr. knox because he does what money cannot by. He knows his students and finds ways to encourage them individually and uses resources to give them the best education he can. I will be forever grateful to Mr. Knox for his roll in helping me raise my son in ways I cannot. He is flexible and innovative in the classroom to ensure the best learning environment
Thank you for your consideration
Shannon

Mrs. R has made my sons life amazing and although it has been years since he taught her- she still inspires him and lets him know he is special and unique

I would like to nominate my son’s Physics teacher, Mr. Brown. He is an extremely caring person. He not only is concerned about the kids learning science, he cares about them as people.

My daughter Rhiannon Pickett is a Kindergarten teacher at Boyd Elementary in Boyd Texas! This is her first year teaching there and teaching Kindergarten so I am sure she can use it!

my daughter’s teacher has a great spirit and passion when she teaches. My daughter comes home everyday talking about how much fun she has in her class.

I just wanted to say hi! I took a little blog break when my dad was so sick and have had a hard getting back into it. I missed visiting you!

My sister has been a teacher for 25 years most of them working with seventh graders. She is special and all she ever wanted to do was become a teacher. She is always so positive and upbeat about her students and she always goes that extra mile to help them suceed. She also coaches several sports so the kids have have a place to go after school. I truly believe that some people were born to do great things and she is a great example.

I think their campaign is absolutely wonderful. $1 donation for just a click of a button is amazing and so many people belong to facebook, so I hope it goes far!

This is tougher than ever for me this year, because there are SO many teachers that I’ve had the privilege of working with that I would love to nominate. But I think I will have to nominate Mrs. S, my daughter’s 2nd grade teacher. This is the 2nd time one of my girls has had Mrs S, and I am even more impressed with her the 2nd time around. Besides her obvious enthusiasm for teaching and her love for her kids, she goes above and beyond in her classroom. I noticed the extra touches all over her classroom last week during back to school night. A hanging hammock with stuffed animals in the corner, drapes with colorful kids’ handprints all over, bean bag chairs, a puppet theater…..special touches are everywhere. Kids can’t help but be enthusiastic about learning in her class!

My 4th grade teacher was one of the best influences in my life. He not only taught me the basics, but inspired me to be my best. I grew up in rural Appalachia, and he was the first person I ever knew who traveled outside this country. I was determined that someday I would be just like him. He was well beloved by all his students. Mr Ward moved away about 25 years ago, and I never forgot him. About two years ago, three of us tracked him down, wrote him letters, and last summer he came to our town for a visit. It was like having dinner with a childhood hero. Superman? Yes, Mr. Ward was, and he still is. He has a few more years of teaching before retirement and I know he’s love an Office Max gift card. I told him that teachers as wonderful as him should never be allowed to retire.

I think the Adopt a Classroom is a great idea. I added Office Max to my “likes” so I could generate a donation.

My daughter’s Kindergarten teacher is an amazing teacher, Ms. Deb Meyer. We are so lucky to have her for our daughter this year, but it is mainly because of how she helped our son when he was in Kindergarten. My son, is actually, my step-son but we have full custody of him because his mother was physically abusive to him and his siblings (from another father). When we got custody of Jacob he was just starting Kindergarten and between the stress of the abuse, moving away from his mom and starting school, it was very hard on Jacob. He would throw violent temper tantrums and would cry a lot, but Deb Meyer never gave up on him. She worked with us on ways to deal with him and somehow between what we did and how she dealt with him we were able to make a break through with him and he started to resemble a normal child…not an abused one. We even talked on the phone with her at night several times.
Deb also works in a school district where there are limited funds (Toledo Public in Toledo, Ohio). Many of the items that Deb supplies for her classroom are bought with her own money and a teacher should not have to use her own money for her classroom. Deb even has animals in her classroom too to help the kids feel comfortable. She is a very hands on teacher and I wish that every student could have a teacher like her. We love Deb Meyer! She deserves this!

My son is a teacher in New Orleans working for Teach for America. He teaches English to 11th and 12th grade students in one of the more economically-disadvantaged parishes. Many of his students have failed before and to motivate his students this year, he had all his friends and family write words of encouragement and he decorated his classroom with them calling it “another brick in the wall”..each of our messages was put on a faux brick. He also has a “pick your prize” box that he fills with donations and items he buys himself to motivate the kids for good work: continuous homework assignments completed, test improvement, general good conduct and helping other students earn them a pick from teh prize box which has a little of everything in it: candy, dvd’s, cd’s, notebooks, pens etc.
Because the kids come from poor families, I know my son has spent quite a bit of money from his own pocket buying notebooks and folders for students who just can’t afford it.
He doesn’t earn much money but he loves his job and his students. We, as his family, couldn’t be prouder of him.

I’d have to nominate my Mom. She’s a preschool teacher for a nonprofit preschool and she’s always looking for new programs and opportunities to help her kids learn. She also takes all kids, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.

I think my son’s teacher deserves the prize because she is dedicated and inspiring. wgbc1446[at]yahoo[dot]com