Michael Engebrits: Educator of the Year | Teen Ink

Michael Engebrits: Educator of the Year

March 3, 2018
By SashGollamudi BRONZE, San Diego, California
SashGollamudi BRONZE, San Diego, California
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Michael Engebrits is a current educator who deserves to be recognized as Educator of the Year for a multitude of various reasons. Mr. Engebrits currently is an educator at Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego, California. As of present, Mr. Engebrits chooses to teach AP Computer Science A to students ranging from sophomores to juniors. His method of teaching and the structure of his classroom merits the justification for Mr. Engebrits to be deemed as Educator of the Year. In respect to educating, Mr. Engebrits has developed a method where he teaches the lesson for the day with aspects from previous lessons. By this, if we learn about concept X on the first day of school and concept Y on the second day of school, he manages to incorporate both of these concepts on the third day when we are learning about concept Z. Through this implementation, Mr. Engebrits is able to question students about older concepts at any time; this forces students to always be alert in the classroom in addition to having to constantly remember all topics taught throughout the school year. This method is successful as it better prepares students for the official AP exam which tests them on all the concepts that Mr. Engebrits requires students to recognize. In addition to his teaching method, Mr. Engebrits has set up his physical classroom in a way that benefits students in many different aspects. The classroom is set up so that there are multiple circular tables in the center of the classroom and surrounding the edges of the classroom are computers neatly lined up side-by-side. During time of lesson, groups of four students sit at each table. With this, students can easily work together when given a problem to deal with. This also makes so that if any student is confused with a topic, they can ask the people around them such that the class can move as smoothly as possible without interruption. When given time to work on computer-related assignments and labs, students move to a computer of their choice. As time progresses, Mr. Engebrits continuously loops around the classroom to check if any students need assistance. If it ever does come to a point that a student needs help but Mr. Engebrits is not available, the student has both a person to their left and to their right to whom they can request advice. The structure of such a classroom creates a high-efficiency workplace that allows for minimal, if any, distractions. Michael Engebrits is a teacher who deserves to be recognized as Educator of the Year due to his recursive teaching method and his extremely efficient classroom structure.



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