My nomination for the 2013 Educator of the Year is Mr. Dan Newcott from Newark Charter School in Newark, Delaware. He was my eight grade English teacher and stood out among all the other teachers I have had in the past. A little background on Mr. Newcott is that he is an avid New York Giants fan and a great guitar player. Also, I heard he is a good golfer, which I must see for myself. Mr. Newcott is a great teacher because he is humorous, personable, and can make books come alive. These are just three of many attributes he has that makes him a great nomination for 2013 Educator of the Year.
First, I want to talk about his humor and how it greatly enhances his ability to teach. His humor is easily relatable to and usually deals with a wide variety of subjects. And when I say “wide variety” I mean it. We went from talking about Roman gods and goddesses to making fun of fanny packs. Mr. Newcott goes on long and funny rants about different things that just make him so much more entertaining and likable. Also, his humor goes far into the books we read and subjects we talk about. His humor makes learning in his class easier and ten times more interesting. He is a teacher who knows how to have a good time and cracking funny comments and jokes is just part of his personality.
Secondly, Mr. Newcott is extremely personable and easy to get along with. Mr. Newcott is one of those guys who you can comfortably have a conversation with without feeling awkward. You can have a conversation about various topics and even things that have nothing to do with school. Because he can easily get along with his students, his classes are like family to him, and he jokes around with the students a lot. He is a teacher that you can easily get along with, and if you have any problems in school, he will happily help you. I always used to talk to him about sports and the New York Giants. The year I was with him the New York Giants won the Super Bowl, and we celebrated in his room. Also, since we both play golf and some of the other teachers do too, we always have golf pools and brackets. I remember I won the Masters bracket because I picked the winner, Bubba Watson, and also I won the WGC Accenture Match play bracket. All these things that we were involved in together just show how personable he can be around students, especially me. He knows how to have a good time with his students, end of story.
He is an incomparable teacher because he is able to make the books come alive, and he relates things in the text to our lives. His ability to teach allows his students to be more attached to reading and understanding. I remember reading The Good Earth and how he made the main character, Wang Lung, so much fun to read about. He would have humorous comments about Wang Lung and was able to implant a vivid image of him in all of our minds. His natural ability to do this definitely makes him a great teacher and worthy of the Educator of the Year award. Also, I remember reading Animal Farm. The complicated plot was easily understandable once Mr. Newcott began to integrate his own humor. Also, he was able to relate many of the events in the book to things that we can relate to in our own lives. I loved reading books in Mr. Newcott’s class!
As you can see Mr. Newcott is one of those teachers you can’t forget. Because of his great teaching abilities, humor, and his personable attributes he makes for a great all around teacher. I believe that his great talent with teaching should not be overlooked, and he should be commended for being one of the best teachers out there. It would mean a lot to not only Mr. Newcott, but all the students he has had, if he received the 2013 Educator of the Year award.