Educator of the Year
Mrs. Averell



I’ve never been one for science. Not at all. But when my first day of high school as a freshman came along that all changed. Mrs. Averell’s freshman science class was probably the only class I came in my freshman year that didn’t repeat the exact same as every other one. While most teachers tell their students to get binders and what to label their binder tabs with. Mrs. Averell told us to do what helps us, what will keep us organized, and for me that made me happy because I like to keep a notebook and a folder. Plain and Simple. The class got better as we started to get into the curriculum. Instead of sticking our noses in books we were doing labs and exercises to understand what we were learning.


Some of the labs I had a lot of fun with are the egg drop, the cell phone signal, and the speed and distance lab. For the egg drop we had to work in groups and make a structure that we would later drop with an egg in it. You had a limited amount of supplies to make your structure, and we could be completely creative with it. When we dropped them later, we recorded which eggs broke and which eggs didn’t, along with the time. Mrs. Averell makes the labs fun because she lets us be open minded with our observations even if they are a little crazy!


We don’t always do labs and when we don’t, we work on packets based on what lesson we are focusing on. While most teachers would want it to be quiet, Mrs. Averell lets us talk about our observations and help each other out with the questions. I’ve never been very good at science in the basis of understanding the subject. But coming into my freshman year I definitely feel like I understand more. My past science teachers really just gave us the textbook and told us what chapter to read and what questions to do. Which was definitely was boring. That’s the best thing about Mrs. Averell’s class. You get to have fun while learning!


When students just sit there and listen to the teacher the entire class, it’s most likely that almost all the kids are not listening. For some it’s because they are visual learners or hands on learners, like me. I know I’ve tuned out lots of times during class because I couldn’t focus and there wasn’t anything to explain what the teacher was saying. I am always very focused in Mrs. Averell’s class because when she is explaining something, she isn’t just standing there and talking; she’s either drawing a diagram on the board or holding up an example. This makes it easier to understand because she’s showing what she is explaining to us.


I have never enjoyed science all that much, but ever since I walked in Mrs. Averell’s room I’ve understood and enjoyed what used to be one of my worst subjects. I am nominating Mrs. Averell for Educator of the Year because she has changed my perspective on science. Her class is hands on which really helps me to understand what I’m doing and how to do it, because of Mrs. Averell’s class I love science!