Educator of the Year: Dan Newcott

We all have teachers that we love, and also ones that we hate. There are the ones who constantly yell at you and seem like they are out to get you. There are those select few who you have a personal connection with and who really make school fun again. Mr. Newcott was my 8th grade English teacher. I didn’t know what to expect going into his class. I was never a fan of English class and I didn’t think that was going to change. But this year it was different. Mr. Newcott was the funniest teacher I have ever had and he had a special way of making his class fun. He also had a way of connecting with each and every student in his class. Each and every day, Mr. Newcott and I got closer and closer, and by about halfway through the year I had made my decision that he was by far my favorite teacher. Because of the fact that he had a great sense of humor, he connected with each and every student, and he had a unique way of teaching his class, I have nominated Mr. Newcott for Educator of the Year.

Making 8th grade students genuinely laugh is a very hard thing to do. We are just becoming teenagers and we have some of the biggest ego’s out there. So when you come across a teacher who you can consider “cool” or “chill,” you know it’s special. With this being said, Mr. Newcott was not a clown 100% of the time. Yes, he had a very good sense of humor, but he also knew when he had to be serious and when he needed to get important points across to us. I don’t believe any other teacher I’ve had has been able to balance humor and work out as well as Mr. Newcott did. I think it’s important for a teacher to balance humor and being serious out so that their kids can know their limits. If a teacher is bipolar with their mood, then a kid is more likely to get in trouble because he doesn’t know how his teacher will react to their actions that day. With Mr. Newcott, we immediately knew what we could and couldn’t do right when he walked through the door.

We have all had those teachers who acted like we didn’t even exist. They would never call on you and they would yell at you when your classmates were just doing the same exact thing and got away with it. Mr. Newcott made it a point to have good relations with all of the students in his class. There was no specific kid that he discriminated against, except for Jake Menzer of course, but it was all jokes with Jake. Teachers don’t realize that every little thing they do is noticed by their kids, and if a teacher constantly doesn’t call on a kid or yells at them for no reason, it affects that kids learning environment which will in turn affect their grade in that class. From what I heard and saw, there was not one person who didn’t like Mr. Newcott, and that made a very friendly learning environment.

Teachers constantly make their classes as boring as can be, and then yell at their kids for falling asleep as if they didn’t expect it. This is what Mr. Newcott was good at. He made his classes interesting. It wasn’t just the same thing every day, so you actually looked forward to English class. Mr. Newcott did something that I thought would never happen; he made me like English class. He also made his class and himself memorable. I know that throughout college and the rest of my life, I will remember 8th grade English with Mr. Newcott. He is the kind of guy who always made you laugh and smile with his jokes, and always knew the right things to say.

Sometimes I can’t remember what I had for dinner last night, but I know I will always remember Mr. Newcott. It’s not surprise that people often choose him for this writing assignment. He’s the kind of guy who wanted you to like him, and if you didn’t, he would do all that he could to change your mind. If Mr. Newcott continues to be a teacher for the next couple of years, I’m sure more and more people will feel the same way that I do. He’s a teacher that people want to have.