“I will never enjoy and understand Spanish” is the first thing I said when I entered the Spanish 1 class in the beginning of the year. It was only my second day of high school at DMA as a freshman, and I was already dreading Spanish class before it even began. People thought I was being irrational for disliking a language that is so easy. This has to be my 4th year in a row taking Spanish class, and I still don’t understand the basics. Here I am, standing waiting for another year of being bored out of my mind taking this class. Then, I met Senorita Schneider.

When you think of your Spanish teacher, you may think of somebody either too old or too young, but my teacher was neither. I remember one day earlier in the year when we were discussing the basics of verbs; we were describing people. I was sitting in my seat with my head held down low to make sure I didn’t get called on; until all of a sudden, I heard “Cadet, will you please read the question on your homework and please tell me the answer in Spanish”. I have never felt so scared and nervous in a class; I could feel all eyes on me. It took me long enough to answer the question when I was finally calm, I read aloud my answer. I knew immediately after I said it that I had made a mistake is pronouncing my answer, and I waited anxiously for her reply back to tell me that my answer was wrong. That was until it never came, but instead later on my teacher went over the answer and helped me pronounce the answer better without making fun of my answer in front of everyone.
I don’t even know where I should start with Ms. Schneider, there are so many words I can explain and express how I feel about her. First of all, I never knew a teacher who constantly evaluates students on how to improve his/her skills and approaches them if they need helped. I have witnessed numerous times that she does not make it obvious to the class when someone is having trouble understanding a lesson or a concept. I enjoy knowing that my teacher takes her own time to stay after school or help her students during our Enrichment period if they have any questions or problems. I can honestly tell that she really enjoys her class as much as her students, and she also cares about her students.

Some adjectives I can describe about Ms. Schneider is how she is always committed to helping myself whenever I need help with the homework or if I am studying for any tests or quizzes. Patient is one of the other things I notice in her class for example, last week when Ms. Schneider asked our class to either put our thumbs either up, in the middle, or down on how we felt on the lesson she was teaching us and going over. There was one kid who put their thumb down and I thought she was going to continue the lesson but instead she helped the student until they understood what she was talking about. One of my favorite things about Ms. Schneider is how positive she can be. My teacher could be having a very stressful & eventful day, but instead of being in a bad mood she always has a smile on her face. In the first couple months of the school year I thought I was going to fail Spanish because I never did well on quizzes or tests. That was until I started asking more questions during study period, and during class because I knew that if I never asked I would never get it. Just for her to take her time to help me with any problems had a huge effect on my notes and grades.

The biggest thing I enjoy about my Spanish teacher is how she motivates her students and that’s what she did to me. Ms. Schneider motivated me to doing more work; I work on sites online to study more with our vocabulary words. When I talk to her about anything outside of school, I can really tell that she is actually intrigued with what I have to say usually instead of paying half attention to me and the class. I know now that I am comfortable being around her to ask questions instead of being shy when she calls on me to read something or answer a question, and it helped me more than she may know. I recall the moment at the beginning of our first class together and she asks our class if there was anyone who knew they didn't like learning Spanish. I was the only one to raise my hand, and that was when she made a comment in return, “I bet that I will change your mind by the end of the year” and she was right. I do enjoy learning the language Spanish and I know I couldn't be any more appreciative for the things that my teacher has done for me. Thanks, Miss Schneider; you’re my nomination for Educator of the year.