It was my senior year. It was the time when most kids give up, and senioritis runs throughout every 12th grader’s veins. I walked in and out of classes day after day not wanting to return because I thought they didn’t matter. My teacher of the month is someone who makes you want to learn and better yourself even when it seems like there is no point anymore. My educator of the year is Mr. Hessler.
When I first sat down in Mr. Hessler’s math class, I knew there was something different about this guy. All of my life I had hated math. From the time I started multiplying until the day I walked into pre-calculus with Mr. Hessler, math was my enemy. But Mr. Hessler changed all that. He told us this class was difficult and that we would have to be ready to work hard, but we could enjoy it.
The way Mr. Hessler teaches is unique. He has these things called ‘side bars’ which he uses to help us understand problems. It is taking an easy way of doing a problem and applying that concept to a difficult problem. It helps you tear apart the problem, as he says.
He also applies what we learn to real life. When Shaun White landed his Double Mctwist 1080 in the 2010 Olympics Mr. Hessler was like a kid on Christmas morning. He had the biggest smile and could not stop thinking about the math involved. I have never seen someone so excited about math. He loved explaining the calculus behind Shaun’s takeoff and trick. When someone gets that into math, it makes others get excited about it too. He can make you see the world in a different way that you didn’t even know existed.
Because of him, I enjoy learning not only math, but other subjects because I can now see how it applies to life. Mr. Hessler made that possible. This is why I am nominating Mr. Hessler as the Educator of the Year.