Mrs. Avery has to be the best and my favorite teacher I've ever had. She teaches Orchestra, so underappreciated and so misunderstood. Mrs. Avery arrives at school at least 30 minutes before any other teachers due. When she enters the orchestra room she writes either the test or the pieces we are playing for an upcoming concert. Of course she does all her required work: filling out things on the computer, searching for new pieces, filling out forms. Then when she's all done, she takes out her viola, admires it, then sits down on the concert masters chair sets up her music and begins to play. I've been one of the fortunate few that has been able to get to class early enough to her her play. It sounds like it came straight from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She also knows excactly what she's teaching, her husband is the music director of UNC. Mrs. Avery's not one of those teachers that stares at the clock, waiting for the exact moment of the class to end. Actually, she gets us so involved in music, we lose track of time and are ven sometimes a few minutes late to class. Mrs. Avery is the Educator of the Year becasue she is willing to teach, loves teach, and loves what she does. Mrs. Avery should continue teaching for as long as possible because she is one of the few left in the country who really understand Orchestra