I would like to nominate Mrs. Majeed of John Dickinson High School as my educator of the year. She is an excellent math teacher with a passion for what she teaches and believes that anyone can learn math. For example, before we started diving deep into the subject itself she expressed the importance of having a growth mindset. She stressed that we all have the ability to learn a subject even if the material can be at the surface difficult. Not only did she teach me math, she taught me how to be a successful student for life.

Before when I didn’t do so well in a school subject I had always pointed fingers at the teacher for my lack of knowledge on the material. It was thanks to Majeed that I had opened my mind and did more self-reflection for when I was falling behind. Funnily enough, I now love being proven wrong because it shows where I need to focus more of my time studying. I wouldn’t have ever studied for class before because I kept lying to myself that I was just smart enough to know the material. I used to always act flabbergasted when I got a low test grade back and threw it away, but now I keep all my grades and look at my scores from time to time to freshen up on past material.

Majeed’s style of teaching is very personal. She will go over the material we need to learn, take questions throughout the lesson, and while we do assignments will walk over to us and help us one-on-one. I can’t express the importance of having that one-on-one teaching because It’s helped build my confidence to raise my hand to answer questions for the class. Even when I finish my assignments, I walk around the classroom and ask people If they need any help. It’s a wonderful feeling to be the one giving another person that “aha!” moment. When Majeed explains math it just all makes sense to me.

Oh by the way, did I mention Majeed sends me letters? That’s right, she sends me and all the other kids that are doing well in her class little handwritten compliment cards explaining to our parents how good of a student we are. It feels good to be congratulated for buckling down and getting my work done. I have all of her compliment cards on my fridge to remind myself to keep  being a hard worker! Another time she has excelled as a teacher was when I was absent for one day of class and it just so happened I was awake at 6:00AM on a Saturday to email her: She responded back in 10 minutes before she even ate breakfast. She’s so sweet!

To wrap everything up, I nominate Mrs. Majeed as my educator of the year. She is a sweet person who is passionate for what she does. She is determined to help everyone keep an open mind to math. Most importantly she wants to see her students succeed.