I was diagnosed with dyslexia in second grade. It was challenging for me to just get through the school days because of all the reading and work. Daily, I would come home with a new story about how my learning disability made school miserable and difficult. I felt different and embarrassed. But no matter what my mom was always there for me with whatever I had to say. Whether it was about a teacher or just simply because I hated being pulled out of class, she always made things betters.
  Jean Nigel is not only my mom, but she is also an amazing and nurturing seventh grade math teacher at Wisconsin Hills Middle School. She comes to work every day so energized and eager to get started, it’s like she is getting paid a million bucks.  She has been working at this school ever since 1997 and let me tell you, everyone knows the corky math teacher at the end of the hall names Mrs. Nigel.
If a student is struggling even the slightest in her class, she will help him or her succeed. She tells me that she will have them come in for lunch or even stay after to tutor them so they understand everything perfectly.
When I tell people that I'm Mrs. Nigel’s daughter all I get back are smiles and positive things.
Her math classes aren't like everyone's math classes. She doesn’t just show her kids how to do math; but instead, she tells me that she has her students do activities almost everyday to make her student have more fun and be more engaged in what she is teaching.
When she comes home, she asks me about techniques I can think of to make her class amusing. Every time it makes me wish I could have had her as my math teacher. She plays videos and games that relate to her lesson plan. She has fun in her math class. She will have all of her students get up and go to another math room and sing funny songs (relating to math of course)  and have a little war between the two math class. Who ever thought math could be fun and easy to learn?
She has kids coming into her room at lunch and after school just to visit her and talk to her. She also has old students that she had a remote time ago texting her asking to go to lunch. She must have positive impacts on their lives because I would never go out of my way to visit an old math teacher!  Year after year, all I hear about at her school is how amazing of a math teacher she is. 
My mom isn’t just great in the classroom, but she is also an amazing mother. My mother keeps me on track. When I didn’t have a job, I heard  her say, “Ali do you have an interview today?” Or when it comes to filling out college information and my school rights when it comes to my disability, she’s always encouraging me to try harder and advocate for myself. She does so much for me and my family--and she does so much for her students too.
My mom isn’t just an amazing math teacher, but she is also an inspiring, skilled and loving mother to her three children. Every night there is no doubt that there will be a home cooked meal on my table no matter how busy and stressed she may be. She educates me everyday, looking up to her and hoping I will achieve as much as she has when I grow up.