Mr. Newcott:

From the first time I set foot in Mr. Newcott's eighth grade English class at Newark Charter School, I knew it would be a great year. I knew any teacher with a “save the drama for your llama” poster on their wall had to be a pretty great teacher, and I was right. My first steps into the room filled with me with excitement to learn, and it never faded in Mr. Newcott's class. Anything he taught, no matter how boring, automatically became interesting because of the way he taught it. Through stories, jokes, and just plain fun, the class learned proper grammar, read classic literature, and wrote entire research papers, all thanks to a great teacher, Mr. Dan Newcott.

Throughout our eighth grade year, we spent a lot of time in English class, reading, no surprise there. We read several classic books, including The Good Earth, Animal Farm, and 12th Night; all of which most of the class assumed would be boring and put us to sleep after a couple pages; with Mr. Newcott, however, reading any classic novel or play was never boring. Important plot points in the Good Earth became ongoing jokes amongst our class; they helped us remember key details for a test, and reading parts from 12th Night aloud let us read through a Shakespearean play, not by sitting there and listening to it being read by a teacher, but by being in it. If any of the books we read in class confused us, he would take the time to stop and explain it, and anything we didn't understand would be clarified immediately. Before I knew it, my grade in English was my highest grade overall, and not because the class was easy, but because I loved it. Mr. Newcott made English, a class I didn't like up to that point, fun.

Aside from reading books and plays, Mr. Newcott focused on using the class as a whole to learn new things, and discuss new topics. There wasn't a time in his class where a student would feel left out or left not knowing something we discussed because he included everyone. Everything was reviewed, and nobody was left in the dark on anything we needed to know. Half of our nearly 90-minute classes would be spent actually discussing and reviewing what we were learning, and it helped tremendously. Hearing what we learned simplified and put in to what seemed like just a regular conversation, really helped me remember things more easily. In simpler terms, his style of teaching fit my style of learning perfectly. I prefer hearing information though stories and discussion, which, although it sometimes got off-topic, is what Mr. Newcott did.

Mr. Newcott's class always seemed like more fun and games than actual learning, but in reality it was quite the opposite. In my time in his class, I actually remembered what I learned, more information than any other class I had taken before, and it was all thanks to him. He integrated learning with fun, and made me eager to get to his class every day. I would look forward to listening to his stories about what his kids had gotten into the night before or how Eric Sawka's dad wore a fanny pack on the Hershey Park field trip. Since that wasn't how we spent the entire class discussing, he also made me look forward to, and eager to learn, something no teacher had ever, or has ever done since. In his class, I learned a lot.

Overall, I can say Mr. Newcott is by far the best teacher I've ever had. The way he taught, engaged, and interacted with the class was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It helped me thoroughly understand, appreciate, and begin to enjoy, a subject I'd never liked, and that's something no teacher could ever replicate. While I wish I could have another teacher like Mr. Newcott, I know I probably won't. He's a one-of-a-kind teacher and is absolutely, by anyone's standards, the Educator of the Year.